Lightweight Floating Platform for Ground-Based Emulation of On-Orbit Scenarios

Orbital space operations must be executed safely and reliably to prevent unwanted failures. One way to validate these operations on Earth is by using testbed facilities that emulate zero-gravity conditions. This article presents the design and evaluation of a novel lightweight floating platform. The objectives are three-fold; the usage of carbon-fiber material for the mechanical structure of the floating platform; the construction of the software packages, which are based on Robot Operating System (ROS); and the floating platform's position controller synthesis, created using disturbance rejection-based convex optimization method to suppress ground-induced mechanical disturbances and ensure stability. Two types of experiments are conducted in the multi-purpose Zero-G Lab facility of the SnT-University of Luxembourg to validate the performance of the floating platform, 1- Position control (single platform); 2-Emulation of an on-orbit cooperative docking scenario (two platforms). Results validate the use of the floating platform for emulating on-orbit scenarios. Optimized in the frequency domain, the proposed controller gives satisfying results for both disturbance rejection and set-point tracking purposes. The link to the Open-source ROS packages is available in the Appendix-B section.