Docked spacecraft mass property identification using space manipulator

This paper presents an approach for identification of mass properties of the docked spacecraft only by the motion of space manipulator. The approach makes use of the conservation of momentum, and the corresponding identification algorithm that does not require torque or acceleration measurement is developed based the recursive least square, and can be solved in two steps. The first step is to identify the mass and mass center of the docked spacecraft based on the principle of linear momentum conservation; and the second step is to identify the inertia tensor of the docked spacecraft based on the principle of angular momentum conservation. The significant advantage of the approach is to decouple the mass, mass center and inertia tensor, without consuming valuable jet fuel, and requires only a wide range of motion of space manipulator. Validity of the identified result is confirmed by the simulation.