Dynamic Feasibility of Space Environment Emulation using an Omnidirectional Drone

Spacecraft control systems are crucial to a space mission making them an important focus of pre-launch verification activities. Currently, some of the passive dynamic emulation testbeds are parabolic flight tests, neutral buoyancy facilities, and air-bearing-based testbeds. Unlike passive methods, active dynamic emulation methods can actively provide the required force/torque to emulate the desired environment. One way to achieve active dynamic emulation is using a feed-forward scheme. However, active methods may destabilize the system. Therefore, investigating the stability of the active method using the feed-forward term is critical. Using a feed-forward scheme for emulating inertia (inertia shaping) has been studied for haptic devices by researchers. This paper introduces a drone-based feed-forward dynamic emulation method and investigates its feasibility for spacecraft dynamic emulation. First, we introduce a mathematical model of translational and rotational dynamic emulation and study the stability in the presence of sensor delays. Then, numerical simulations in MATLAB/Simulink are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the dynamic emulation method. Lastly, we conclude that the proposed dynamic emulation method is feasible as long as emulated mass and inertia are less than two times of drone’s mass and inertia, respectively.