Coordinated control of tethered space robot using mobile tether attachment point in approaching phase

Tethered space robots (TSRs) have wide applications in future on-orbit service owing to its flexibility and great workspace. However, the control problem is quite complex and difficult in the phase of approaching target, and the fuel consumption must also be taken into account. Hence, we present a novel scheme of achieving coordinated orbit and attitude control simultaneously for the TSR. Space tether, which can provide greater force compared with the thruster force, is used in the design of the orbit and attitude coordinated controller. A coordinated control mechanism is designed to provide attitude control torques of the pitch and yaw motions by adjusting the position of the mobile tether attachment point, while the roll motion is stabilized by the thruster. In order to guarantee this mechanism to work properly, constant tether tension strategies are utilized to plan an optimal approaching trajectory which is tracked by the coordinated controller of tether force and thruster force. Numerical simulation validates the feasibility of our proposed coordinated control scheme for TSR in the approaching phase. Furthermore, fuel consumption of the orbit and attitude control are both significantly reduced compared with traditional thruster control.