Freeflying Robots - Inertial Parameters Identification and Control Strategies

A method is proposed for the identification of the inertial parameters of the base body of a freeflying robot directly in space. This can serve to improve the path tracking capabilities of the robotic system as well as to measure the parameters of a load on the end-effector. Furthermore, the ETS-VII Dynamic Motion experiments have shown that a non controlled spacecraft is subject to non negligible external disturbances. A control scheme is proposed to account for these disturbances while allowing the spacecraft to move in reaction to the robot motions.