Rendezvous experiments on SmartSat-1

With the maturation of space technology, there is an increasing focus on the maintenance of spacecraft and the space environment. NICT (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology) has proposed an Orbital Maintenance System (OMS), which is a rescue-and-removal satellite-servicing system for telecommunications satellites, and has conducted research on related technologies. One of the biggest challenges in on-orbit maintenance is the development of autonomous rendezvous technologies. The rescue satellite must be able to approach the target satellite before it falls out of orbit. NICT and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) are planning a unique small-satellite mission called SmartSat-1. Using SmartSat-1, NICT and MHI plan to carry out experiments on autonomous rendezvous technologies for the OMS. In this paper, we describe the next demonstration mission for the orbital maintenance system, which will utilize the 200-kg class twin-sat SmartSat-1