Detumbling and stabilization of a tumbling target using a space manipulator with joint-velocity limits

After capturing a tumbling target, the combined system must be stabilized as soon as possible to ensure the safety of operation tasks. In this paper, a detumbling and stabilization strategy based on angular momentum distribution is proposed for the post-capture space robotic system. Compared with previous works, the proposed approach considers joint velocity limits, which is more suitable for practical cases. Through proper motion planning of the manipulator, the angular momentum of the target and the manipulator is transferred into the reaction wheel while keeping the attitude of the base stabilized. Simultaneously, joint velocity limits are addressed by a dynamic allocation method. Furthermore, a modified identification model with a scaling factor which can provide better converge performance is used to obtained the unknown parameters of the tumbling target, and thus the accurate angular momentum of the target can be obtained for the motion planning after a transition phase. A simulation study is conducted to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed strategy.