Flight Validation of a Multi-Degree-of-Freedom Flux-Pinning Spacecraft Model

The Flux-Pinned Interface for spacecraft is a maturing technology that offers unique benefits to a number of close-proximity spacecraft operations such as on-orbit reconfiguration and servicing, formation flying, and rendezvous and docking. As a part of this research effort, Cornell University’s RAGNAR (Robust Autonomous Grappler for Noncontacting Actuation and Reconfiguration) team performed a series of microgravity experiments on Sept. 30 th and Oct. 1 st , 2010 via NASA’s Facilitated Access to the Space environment for Technology (FAST) flight program. The goals of this project were to experimentally test a design of a CubeSat-scale flux-pinned interface for spacecraft and gather data that could validate the frozen-image model currently being used to develop simulations and controllers for this interface. This paper summarizes the experimental setup and frequencyand timedomain results of the flight experiment, and compares the empirically derived data against a set of simulations. The paper concludes with a summary of weaknesses and strengths of the model as a predictor for actual flight dynamics and lessons learned regarding the flux-pinned interface design.