Modeling and experimental design for the on-orbit inertial parameter identification of free-flying space robots

A method is proposed for the identification of the inertial parameters of a free-flying robot directly in orbit, using accelerometers. This can serve to improve the path planning and tracking capabilities of the robot, as well as its efficiency in energy consumption. The method is applied to the identification of the base body and of the load on the end-effector, giving emphasis to the experimental design. The problem of the identification of the full system is also addressed in its theoretical aspects. The experience from the Getex Dynamic Motion experiments performed on the ETS-VII satellite have allowed to deter-mine a most suitable model for the identification.