On-ground validation of manipulator adaptive variable admittance control method for detumbling a space non-cooperative satellite

To achieve rapid and stable detumbling of a space non-cooperative satellite, an adaptive variable admittance control method for the manipulator is proposed and verified through the on-ground experiment. The composition of the designed on-ground hardware-in-the-loop verification platform are first demonstrated, and on this basis, verification principle is elaborated. Subsequently, the control block diagram of the proposed method is presented, and the adaptive variable admittance compliant detumbling control model and the kinematic model of the manipulator are established. The proposed controller includes the fixed admittance controller in manipulator task space, the adaptive pose compensator for the grasping point on docking ring, and the damping adaptive regulator based on manipulator joint angular velocity, and the stability constraints of which are derived through the Routh criterion. Finally, the on-ground experiment process for detumbling a space non-cooperative spinning satellite is formulated, and the time sequence for its five phases is planned. The experimental results show that during the relative detumbling process, the spin angular velocity of the simulated space non-cooperative satellite gradually decreases to the desired value of − 0.089 ^° /s, and the oscillation amplitude of angular velocity also continuously diminishes. At the end of this phase, absolute value of the angular velocity component deviation is only 0.019 ^° /s. On-ground test verifies the effectiveness of the proposed method and provides vital basis for its further application.