A Research on Strategy of Plume Impingement De-Tumbling Technology

Plume impingement de-tumbling is a newly developed technology in order to maneuver non-cooperative free-tumbling target with a high spin speed in the orbit. Efficiency and feasibility of the method can be improved by a well-designed de-tumbling strategy, which includes related position and attitude of the de-tumbling thruster. In this paper, a pointing strategy is proposed to satisfy the requirement of de-tumbling operation. First, a plume model is built via analytical method. Then the requirements of de-tumbling is given by analysis, based on that a optimization model is developed to describe the pointing strategy. After that, a closed-loop dynamic system is built to verify the method. Finally, a set of simulations are set. Results illustrate that the error of direction accuracy is within 15 degrees, besides the de-tumbling operation is effective in various situation. As a conclusion, the pointing strategy is effective and offers a basic reference for further design.