University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Development of miniature robotic arm manipulators to enable smallsat clusters

Wenger, Thibaut

Content Files
WENGER-THESIS-2017.pdf

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/97516

Description

Title
Development of miniature robotic arm manipulators to enable smallsat clusters
Author(s)
Wenger, Thibaut
Issue Date
2017-04-28
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Ho, Koki
Department of Study
Aerospace Engineering
Discipline
Aerospace Engineering
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
M.S.
Degree Level
Thesis
Date of Ingest
2017-08-10T19:16:23Z
Keyword(s)
  • Formation flying
  • CubeSat
  • In-space assembly
  • Cluster control
Abstract
The performances of monolithic spacecraft are limited by their size, mass and cost. For example, the sizes of a communication satellite antenna or of a space telescope primary mirror directly impact their performances. In-space assembly and formation flying missions are the logical responses to this issue. Instead of limited dedicated launches, several small satellites can be piggybacked as secondary payload and work together to accomplish the same mission. Therefore, this concept reduces the cost but also removes the limit of size and mass since more spacecraft can always be added to the formation while increasing robustness (the independent spacecraft are replaceable) and modularity (the reconfiguration of the formation can lead to different outcomes). This research is the result of a collaboration between the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC). It presents the development of an integrated, robust and optimized method to enable scalable small satellites clusters via Clusters Forming On-Board Robotic Manipulators (C-FORM). The physical connection removes the constraint of highly sophisticated control for collision avoidance, the main obstacle of formation flying missions. After the deployment phase, pairs of satellites will sequentially rendezvous, deploy their miniature robotic arms and dock with the help of their end effectors. The dockings will be repeated until the formation is formed. JPL developed and designed both the robotic arms and the end effectors. Under the requirements of the mission, the components were selected for the satellite bus. A simulation was developed in order to model the dynamics of the spacecraft under realistic sensors and actuators to validate the feasibility of this concept. Finally, a quantitative estimation of the amount of fuel the robotic arms can save for formation flying purposes was carried out.
Graduation Semester
2017-05
Type of Resource
text
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/97516
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2017 Thibaut Wenger

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Graduate Dissertations and Theses at Illinois PRIMARY
Graduate Theses and Dissertations at Illinois
Dissertations and Theses - Aerospace Engineering