LAUSR

Abstract Knowing the dynamic properties of a non-cooperative spacecraft is critical for robotic capture and service in orbit. However, using visual observation alone is not sufficient to identify all the inertial parameters (the mass, mass center location, and inertia matrix) of an unknown target object. This paper presents a method to fully identify all the inertial parameters of a non-cooperative object in orbit with data from visual and force-moment sensors. We propose to use a flexible rod to change a target's movement, which is a prerequisite to identify the true values of the target's dynamic properties. A novel algorithm for processing the collected force and torque data is introduced, which reduces the effect of noise on the identification accuracy. Simulation results have shown that for a large target, we only need to apply a very small force to completely identify all the inertial parameters with an acceptable error in the presence of sensor measurement errors as well as a rough initial guess.