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Dynamical behavior of flexible net spacecraft for landing on asteroid

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A Correction to this article was published on 11 February 2022

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Abstract

A new era of up-close asteroid exploration has been entered in the 21st century. However, the widely rugged terrain and microgravity field of asteroids still pose significant challenges to the stable landing of spacecraft and may even directly lead to the escape of the explorer. Owing to the substantial energy dissipation arising from the interaction among multiple bodies, the flexible net, which is a typical multibody system, may be capable of overcoming the above problems. In this study, a dynamical model was established to analyze the movement of the flexible net spacecraft (FNS) near and on the asteroid comprehensively. First, we investigated the dynamical environment of the target asteroid by combining the polyhedron method and spherical harmonics parametric surface modeling approach. Thereafter, we constructed the multibody dynamics model of the explorer using the linear Kelvin–Voigt method. Subsequently, we studied the collision process between the FNS and asteroid based on the spring–damper contact dynamics model. The trajectory and speed of the FNS could be derived by solving the system dynamic equations in parallel. Finally, we analyzed the deformation, descent, jumping motion, and surface movement process of the FNS during the movement. Consequently, a promising scheme is provided for asteroid exploration missions in the future.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2019YFA0706500).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Aerospace Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Yu Zhang & Hexi Baoyin

  2. School of Aeronautic Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Yang Yu

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  1. Yu Zhang
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  2. Yang Yu
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  3. Hexi Baoyin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hexi Baoyin.

Additional information

Yu Zhang received his B.S. degree in engineering from the South China University of Technology, China, in 2020. At present, he is a graduate student at Tsinghua University. His current research interest is nonlinear dynamics theory.

Yang Yu is currently an associate professor at Beihang University in Beijing, China. He joined the Faculty of Theoretical Mechanics in April 2016. He obtained his B.S. degree in physics from Beihang University in 2009 and his Ph.D. degree in aeronautics & astronautics from Tsinghua University in 2014. He held a postdoctoral position at Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur in France from 2014 to 2016. His research interests include the Hamiltonian dynamics of celestial systems, and the formation and evolution of solar system small bodies.

Hexi Baoyin is currently a professor at Tsinghua University. His current research interests include orbit theory in irregular gravitational fields, and interplanetary mission analysis and optimization.

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Zhang, Y., Yu, Y. & Baoyin, H. Dynamical behavior of flexible net spacecraft for landing on asteroid. Astrodyn 5, 249–261 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42064-021-0102-4

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