Autonomous Capture of Non-Cooperative Spacecraft with a Space Free-Flyer

This work deals with the problem of performing rendezvous and capture of a non-cooperative spacecraft by means of a space free-flyer, i.e. a satellite base equipped with a robotic manipulator. Though this kind of manoeuvres addresses the solving of relevant existing problems such as debris removal, satellite servicing, orbit changing, only few spaceborne experiments have been conducted, all keeping strong working hypothesis. In this work, a few techniques and strategies to obtain more realistic algorithms, taking into account relative motion and computational load, are presented. An orbit and attitude dynamics simulator has been developed to experiment the proposed strategies.