CubeSat Autonomous Rendezvous Simulation

An autonomous mission manager is being developed for use on small satellites, including CubeSats, in proximity operations applications where one satellite is near another cooperating spacecraft. The mission manager performs mission event sequencing/resequencing and coordination between the autonomous rendezvous and docking algorithm and the maneuvering satellite while also providing guidance, navigation, and control automation, contingency diagnosis and response, and abort condition determination and execution. In the case of small satellites, limited sensing, actuation, and computing resources require special consideration when creating a mission manager for these vehicles. A detailed simulation tool was created that allows existing guidance, navigation, and control laws to be incorporated into an overall mission manager structure. A representative approach trajectory for a spacecraft from 1 km to 1 m to a cooperating vehicle is used to demonstrate performance. Spacecraft sensor and actuator hardware is simulated so that imperfect knowledge and control may exercise the mission manager algorithms. The system is designed to run in real-time on a standard low power microprocessor that could be used on a CubeSat or similar small satellite.