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Using a Robotic Arm as an Attitude Actuator: Propellant-Free Attitude Maneuver Planning for Free-Floating Spacecraft

This research uses manipulator motion for propellant-free attitude control of free-floating spacecraft, modeling it as a trajectory optimization problem with joint and collision-avoidance constraints and solving it with an interior-point method. Across a range of spacecraft-manipulator systems, the method computed rest-to-rest slew trajectories of up to 90° and detumble trajectories with a 40% reduction in angular velocity. The authors also directly compare the manipulator's control authority with that of reaction wheel arrays via momentum and torque envelopes, noting that manipulators could serve as a redundant or even primary attitude control system, with particular promise for in-space assembly and manufacturing involving the capture of high relative-mass payloads.

Part of the event: Robotic Arm Motion Enables Propellant-Free Spacecraft Attitude Control

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