Development of a hardware simulator for the attitude estimation of a spacecraft on the ground test

This study deals with an attitude motion estimation system for a target object as seen from a chaser spacecraft as a preliminary study for a space debris removal mission in Earth orbit. In principle, on the ground, it is impossible to reproduce the nutation motion or tumbling motion of objects seen in space due to gravity. Therefore, numerical simulations are generally used to simulate the object’s motion. However, objects’ behavior in capturing or retrieving missions involving physical contact is not accurate due to uncertainties such as friction and reaction force models between objects. Therefore, this study outlines the development of a hardware simulator for debris motion estimation and ground testing of capture missions.