Collision Without Failure: Simulating What Happens When Spacecraft “Bump”
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Find out how our ISAM Facility upgrades are allowing us to see what happens when spacecraft collide at low speed.
Using contact dynamics, we can model how in-orbit collisions will resolve.
When we are modelling in-orbit operations, such as spacecraft servicing or debris capture, a small miscalculation or error in timing can lead to a collision. If this collision leads to the destruction of a solar panel, this can be catastrophic for both spacecraft, – but sometimes this collision simply leads to a “bump” which changes the velocity of both spacecraft without necessarily damaging them, but this could put both spacecraft into orbits that are undesirable. A key problem in in-orbit operations is what to do about these small collisions.
To help ISAM operators navigate these pitfalls it is important to be able to know how their spacecraft react to these collisions, so to support this our ISAM Facility[link] has now implemented a feature called “contact dynamics” to allow the robots in our facility (which emulate spacecraft movement) to accurately model what happens when spacecraft collide.
Our contact dynamics solution models the mass of the spacecraft on the robot arm to provide a true-to-life simulation.
By fitting force/torque meters to our existing infrastructure and a few coding tricks to account for changes in the centre of mass when a spacecraft is mounted to the robot arm, we can now fully emulate what happens when two spacecraft bump into each other. Normally, when robotics like those in our facility collide, they stop moving and produce an error, but with contact dynamics in place the robots are now able to calculate the forces that would be experienced by the spacecraft and – if they are within safe parameters – calculate the resultant output forces in real time.
If you are hoping to model in-orbit operations such as debris capture, in-orbit refuelling, docking, assembly, or other servicing operations that require multiple spacecraft, our facility is available for use. Click here to get in touch – facilities@sa.catapult.org.uk.
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