An optimal nutation reduction method for contact de-tumbling of satellites

Stabilizing tumbling satellites is a crucial step in ensuring safe on-orbit capture. A new de-tumbling method has been proposed that uses a flexible device, such as a brush or rod, to make contact with the target object and avoid potential collisions. However, this method faces two challenges: (i) The complex rotary motion makes it very difficult to determine the contact position on the target satellite, which is crucial to reduce nutation during de-tumbling. (ii) The conventional finite-element-based dynamic model of the flexible contactor is high-dimensional, leading to unacceptable computing time for on-orbit simulation. To address these problems, this paper proposes an optimal method to efficiently reduce the nutation by predicting the initial contact position for each contact process. Additionally, a fast computation model of the de-tumbling system is established based on a data-driven approach to support real-time prediction. Finally, numerical simulations are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness and high efficiency of the proposed method.