Assembly, integration and testing of a robotic facility for the simulation of spacecraft attitude and orbital maneuvers

Abstract

This thesis illustrates the devolpments and testing of a low cost robotic arm for the simulation of space RV\D maneuvers: the robotic arm's end effector reprensets the chaser vehicle, while the target is condered fixed. In this work, after an overview of the robotic arm structure and a description of the control hardware, the control algorithm and strategies for microgravity loboratory simulation are described, as well as their implementation into the control electronic hardware.