Aerotable test bench for mutual movement of spacecraft
SPUTNIX
A frictionless air-bearing table for testing relative-motion, docking, and multi-satellite GNC algorithms.
Technical specifications
- Overall dimensions
- 5000x4000x3000 mm
- Active area dimensions
- 1860x2480 mm
- Platform carrying capacity
- up to 10 kg
- Working clearance between table surface and platforms
- up to 0.5 mm
- Working body
- atmospheric air
- Mechanical horizon accuracy
- not worse than 0.1 mm
- Independent measurement system accuracy (orientation)
- not worse than 1 deg
- Independent measurement system accuracy (position)
- not worse than 10 mm
About
Article SXL-AIRTABLE-02. An aerodynamic table (precision aluminum horizontal surface with a uniform grid of holes fed by pressurized air from an external fan) providing near-frictionless free movement of studied objects in the horizontal plane, supporting one or more object mock-ups on an air cushion. Used in laboratory conditions for developing spacecraft center-of-mass motion control algorithms (autonomous navigation, onboard propulsion control, ADCS operation), and for studying motion-control algorithms for microsatellite groups performing spatial near-Earth studies and in-orbit technology experiments (autonomous relative navigation, distributed orbital computing, inter-satellite communications, cable systems, automatic inspection and docking). Can simulate frictionless free movement of one or several small mobile object models (e.g. microsatellites) up to 10 kg each, and determine their motion parameters via an independent measurement system.
Documentation
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