Design of a ground-based facility to reproduce satellite relative motions

New technologies in the fields of relative navigation and control strategies are required and ground-based testbeds can be successfully used to develop and validate these required advancements both in hardware and software. Several design aspects have to be taken into account when reproducing on the ground a reduced-gravity environment typical of satellites on orbit. This paper describes the design and construction of the SPARTANS ground facility under development at the University of Padova. We present experimental results concerning the estimation of position and attitude of the SPARTANS spacecraft units performed with a tracking camera system, evaluating also the uncertainty that affect these indirect measurements.