Dynamic Control and Ground-Based Experiments of a Tethered Satellite System

The paper presents the deployment and retrieval control of a tethered satellite system from both theoretical and experimental points of view. The ideas of online optimization and receding horizon control enable one to design a feedback controller for the tethered satellite system. The presented feedback control law is not in any closed-form, but can accounts for the nonlinearity in the system model and the mission-related constraints. Furthermore, the paper outlines a technically and economically feasible solution to verify the efficacy of the controller via a ground-based experiment. The two key issues concerning the design of the ground-based experiment are the principle of dynamic similarity and the idea of using thrusts for simulating the gravity gradient field and the Coriolis forces. Finally, the paper presents the experimental verification of proposed control scheme for the deployment and retrieval processes of the satellite simulator.