Capturing an Unknown Uncooperative Target with a Swarm of Spacecraft

摘要

On Orbit Servicing is evolving into a critical aspect of modern space activities either for satellite maintenance, orbital assembly, or active debris removal. In this context, the capture of large unknown uncooperative targets is becoming more and more important. This paper investigates the use of a swarm of small minimalist vehicles (i.e., CubeSats, Nanosats…) as a potential solution to the problem. Swarms bring robustness, flexibility, and cost-efficiency to the system. This study presents an effective behavior-based control approach that enables the decentralized capture of a tumbling rigid body by a swarm of free-flying robots in orbit. The guidance system is inspired by bio-inspired strategies for swarm control, incorporating a flocking behavior to maneuver the robots in close proximity to the surfaces of the target body. Additionally, an anti-flocking behavior is employed to optimize the distribution of agents, ensuring comprehensive coverage of the target surfaces and encapsulation of the body shape before triggering the capture. The agents are equipped with a memory capacity that allows them to synchronize their capture on the macroscopic scale using only local individual observation of landmark points on the rigid body and communication with neighboring agents. The control is entirely decentralized, and all swarm agents are interchangeable, demonstrating a leaderless self-organizing multi-agent system. This approach demonstrates promising prospects for achieving coordinated swarm-based capture of unknown uncooperative tumbling targets.