Study on Landing Response Control of Planetary Exploration Spacecraft Based on Momentum Exchange Principles

Abstract

This paper discusses landing response control methods of planetary exploration spacecrafts on the basis of momentum exchange principles. Concretely, the methods adopt momentum exchange impact dampers (MEIDs) that absorb the controlled object's momentum with extra masses close to the object (damper masses). For example, this paper shows Upper-MEID (U-MEID) that launches the damper mass upward and Lower-MEID (L-MEID) that drops the damper mass downward. Moreover, Generalized-MEID (G-MEID) consisting of U-MEID and L-MEID is introduced. The optimal design parameters of the G-MEID mechanism in a single-axis case for the landing of a spacecraft are investigated. Simulation investigation verifies that the G-MEID mechanism is superior than any other MEID mechanisms from the point of view of reduction of the maximum rebound of the spacecraft. Moreover, the effectiveness of the G-MEID whose U-MEID adopts an active actuator (G-Hybrid MEID) is verified in the view of the rebound reduction performance and the robustness against the landing ground stiffness and spacecraft's mass variations.