EHS
Extensible Hook System for a cubesat swarm
Contract #: 806/56.6846
The use of cubesat swarms has being proposed for different missions where cooperation between satellites is required.Commonly, the cube swarm requires formation flight and even rendezvous and docking, which are very challenging tasks since they required more energy and the use of advanced guidance, navigation and control techniques. In this paper, we propose the use of an extensible hook system to mitigate these drawbacks, i.e. it allows to save fuel and reduce the system complexity by including techniques that have been previously demonstrated on Earth.This system is based on a scissor boom structure, which could reach up to five meters for a 4U cubesat dimension, including three degrees of freedom to place the end effector at any pose within the system workspace.We simulated the dynamic behaviour of a cubesat with the proposed system, demonstrating the required power for a 16U cubesat equipped with one extensible hook system is considered acceptable according to the current state of the art actuators.
Main Contractor: Sirin Orbital Systems AG
Contract reference: 806/56.6846
Duration: 01/01/2024 - 30/04/2024
