Spacecraft self- and soft-docking via coupled actuation of magnetic fields

In spacecraft docking operation, electromagnetic coils provide a attractive option to generate required force/torque, which have no propellant consumption and plume contamination, and has high-precision control capability, such as continuous, reversible, synchronous and non-contacting actuation. Furthermore, the application of damping capability of the flux-pinned superconductor enables two spacecraft self- and soft-docking operation. In other words, with proper design of the magnetic fields of the flux-pinned superconductors and the common conductors, there is an actuation space where two spacecraft can soft-dock without active control. This paper investigates the problems of spacecraft self- and soft-docking via coupled actuation of magnetic fields, studies the self-docking property and puts forward its evolvement laws, and researches the relationship between the design parameters and the required actuation space.