%0 Journal Article
%T A convex
%A Andrew Bradstreet
%A Costantinos Zagaris
%A Josep Virgili-Llop
%A Marcello Romano
%A Richard Zappulla
%J The International Journal of Robotics Research
%@ 1741-3176
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0278364918804660
%X An algorithm to guide the capture of a tumbling resident space object by a spacecraft equipped with a robotic manipulator is presented. A solution to the guidance problem is found by solving a collection of convex programming problems. As convex programming offers deterministic convergence properties, this algorithm is suitable for onboard implementation and real-time use. A set of hardware-in-the-loop experiments substantiates this claim. To cast the guidance problem as a collection of convex programming problems, the capture maneuver is divided into two simultaneously occurring sub-maneuvers: a system-wide translation and an internal re-configuration. These two sub-maneuvers are optimized in two consecutive steps. A sequential convex programming procedure, overcoming the presence of non-convex constraints and nonlinear dynamics, is used on both optimization steps. A proof of convergence is offered for the system-wide translation, while a set of structured heuristics¡ªtrust regions¡ªis used for the optimization of the internal re-configuration sub-maneuver. Videos of the numerically simulated and experimentally demonstrated maneuvers are included as supplementary material
%K Computational guidance and control
%K convex programming
%K space robotics
%K on-orbit servicing
%K space debris
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0278364918804660