Requirements and Problems for Space Berthing System

In this paper a berthing task is introduced with a system which considers a station and a CubeSat-like satellite. In the presented task a manipulator is used to catch, to move the micro-satellite towards berthing port, and to dock it with interfaces activation. The requirements are discussed for the system in terms of issues for design, control, and sensorization. According to the requirements, possible problems are formulated with characteristic parameters. A conceptual CAD solution for the berthing manipulator is presented with a gripper, and a dynamic simulation for basic movements is elaborated for characteristic results.