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The purpose of this paper is to present a new approach in the concept and implementation of autonomous micro‐spacecraft. The one true “artificial agent” approach to autonomy requires the micro‐spacecraft to interact in a direct manner with the environment through the use of sensors and actuators. As such, little computational effort is required to implement such an approach, which is clearly of great benefit for limited micro‐satellites. Rather than using complex world models, which have to be updated, the agent is allowed to exploit the dynamics of its environment for cues as to appropriate actions to achieve mission goals. The particular artificial agent implementation used here has been borrowed from studies of biological systems, where it has been used successfully to provide models of motivation and opportunistic behaviour. The so‐called “cue‐deficit” action selection algorithm considers the micro‐spacecraft to be a non‐linear dynamical system with a number of observable states. Using optimal control theory rules are derived which determine which of a finite repertoire of behaviours the satellite should select and perform. The principal benefits of this approach is that the micro‐spacecraft is endowed with self‐sufficiency, defined here to be the ability to achieve mission goals, while never placing itself in an irrecoverable position.

Because of indeterminateness of the environment and delay of the communication, deep space spacecraft is required to be autonomous. Planning technology is studied in order to realize the spacecraft autonomy. First, a multi‐agent planning system (MAPS) based on temporal constraint satisfaction is proposed for concurrency and distribution of spacecraft system. Second, timeline concept is used to describe simultaneous activity, continue time, resource and temporal constraints. Third, for every planning agent in the MAPS, its layered architecture is designed and planning algorithm based on the temporal constraint satisfaction is given in detail. Finally, taking some key subsystems of deep space explorer as an example, the prototype system of MAPS is implemented. The results show that with the communication and cooperation of the planning agents, the MAPS is able to produce complete plan for explorer mission quickly under the complex constraints of time and resource.

The paper aims to introduce a trade-off method for selecting a mission concept for an asteroid mining mission. In particular, the method is applied to the KaNaRiA mission concept selection. After introducing the KaNaRiA project, the KaNaRiA mission concept selection and reference scenario are described in detail.

The paper introduces past relevant asteroid missions in general and the previous studies on asteroid mining in particular. Based on the review of past mission concepts to minor planets, the paper discusses the operational phases of a potential industrial and commercial space mining mission. The methodology for selecting a mission reference scenario is explained and the selected KaNaRiA mission scenario is described.

The key technology driver for a space mining mission is the autonomous on-board capability related to navigation, guidance and handling of hardware/software anomalies or unexpected events. With the methodology presented here, it is possible to derive a mission concept which provides an adequate test-bed for the validation and verification of algorithms for enhanced spacecraft autonomy. This is the primary scientific and engineering goal of the KaNaRiA project.

The mission concept selection method presented here can be used as a generalized approach for mining missions targeting asteroids in the solar system.

The availability and usage of space resources is seen as a possible solution for the imminent problem of diminishing terrestrial materials in the foreseen future. This paper explains a methodology to select mission concepts for asteroid mining missions.

A range of space systems engineering technologies are currently under development at the University of Glasgow. Much of this work centres on advanced propulsion (solar sailing and tethers) which is complemented by studies on space robotics and spacecraft autonomy. This paper summarises these activities to provide a brief overview of current research interests. Although some work represents fundamental research in space systems engineering, much is mission‐oriented and focused on future exploitation.

The purpose of this paper is to propose an attitude control algorithm for spacecraft with geometric constraints.

The geometric constraint is reformulated as a quadratic form when quaternion is used as attitude parameter, then the constraint is proved to be nonconvex and is further transformed to a convex one. By designing a new constraint formulation to satisfy the real constraint in the predictive horizon, the attitude control problem is reshaped to a convex planning problem which is based on receding horizon control.

The proposed algorithm is more effective in handling geometric constraints than previous research which used single step planning control.

With novel improvements to current methods for steering spacecraft from one attitude to another with geometric constraints, great attitude maneuver path can be achieved to protect instruments and meanwhile satisfy mission requirements.

The attitude control algorithm in this paper is designed especially for the satisfaction of geometric constraints in the process of attitude maneuver of spacecraft. By the application of this algorithm, the security of certain optical instruments, which is critical in an autonomous system, can be further assured.

The purpose of this paper is to present novel robust fault tolerant control design architecture to detect and isolate spacecraft attitude control actuators and reconfigure to redundant backups to improve the practicality of actuator fault detection.

The Robust Fault Tolerant Control is designed for spacecraft Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking (AR&D) using Lyapunov direct approach applied to non‐linear model. An extended Kalman observer is used to accurately estimate the state of the attitude control actuators. Actuators on all three axes (roll/pitch/yaw) sequentially fail one after another and the robust fault tolerant controller acts to reconfigure to redundant backups to stabilize the spacecrafts and complete the required maneuver.

In the simulations, the roll, pitch and yaw dynamics of the spacecraft are considered and the attitude control actuators failures are detected and isolated. Furthermore, by switching to redundant backups, the guarantee of overall stability performance is demonstrated.

A real time actuator failure detection and reconfiguration process using robust fault tolerant control is applied for spacecraft AR&D maneuvers. Finding an appropriate Lyapunov function for the non‐linear dynamics is not easy and always challenging. Failure of actuators on all three axes at the same time is not considered. It is a very useful approach to solve self‐assembly problems in space, spacecraft proximity maneuvers as well as co‐operative control of planetary vehicles in presence of actuator failures.

An approach has been proposed to detect, isolate and reconfigure spacecraft actuator failures occurred in the spacecraft attitude control system. A Robust Fault Tolerant Control scheme has been developed for the nonlinear AR&D maneuver for two spacecrafts. Failures that affect the control performance characteristics are considered and overall performance is guaranteed even in presence of control actuator failures. The architecture is demonstrated through model‐based simulation.

Lots of successful space missions require that the maneuvering spacecraft can reach the target spacecraft. Therefore, research on relative reachable domain (RRD) in target orbit for maneuvering spacecraft is particularly important and is currently a hot-debated topic in the field of aerospace. This paper aims at analyzing and simulating the RRD in target orbit for maneuvering spacecrafts with a single fixed-magnitude impulse and continuous thrust, respectively, to provide a basis for analyzing the feasibility of spacecraft maneuvering missions and improving the design efficiency of spacecraft maneuvering missions.

Based on the kinematics model of relative motion, RRD in target orbit for maneuvering spacecraft with a single fixed-magnitude impulse can be calculated via analyzing the relationship between orbital elements, position vector and velocity vector of spacecrafts, and relevant studies are introduced to compare simulation results for the same case and validate the method proposed in the paper. With analysis of the dynamic model of relative motion, the calculation of RRD in target orbit for maneuvering spacecraft with continuous thrust can be transformed as the solution of the optimal control problem, and example emulations are carried out to validate the method.

For the case with a single fixed-magnitude impulse, simulation results show preliminarily that the method is in agreement with the method in Ref. (Wen et al., 2016), which treats the same case and thus is plausibly correct and feasible. For the case with continuous thrust, analysis and simulation results confirm the validity of the proposed method. The methods based on relative motion in this paper can efficiently determining the RRD in target orbit for maneuvering spacecraft.

Both theoretical analyses and simulation results indicate that the method proposed in this paper is comparatively simple but efficient for determine the RRD in target orbit for maneuvering spacecraft swiftly and precisely.

Modern, complex control systems for specific application domains often display common system design architectures with similar subsystem functionality and interactions. The similarities between these subsystems in most spacecraft can be exploited to create a model‐driven system development environment and then transformed into software or hardware either manually or automatically. Modifications to software and hardware during operations can be similarly made in the same controlled way. The approach is illustrated using a spacecraft attitude determination and control subsystem, but applies equally to other types of aerospace systems.

A robotics team at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, under the direction of Dr Robert Ambrose, is developing a new breed of space robots called Robonaut. Robonaut, designed to be as human‐like as possible, will be controlled by telepresence and will work in extravehicular activity (EVA) environments, allowing astronauts to remain safely inside the spacecraft.