Docking dynamics between two spacecrafts with APDSes

Contact/impact models are established mainly for the capturing phase of a docking system. All the interactions between them are supposed as point contacts/impacts. For contacts, instead of using compliant models, constraint equations are formulated on the thorough investigation of the contour shapes of the docking system. All the contact constraints are originated from the sufficient and necessary conditions of point contacts. The constraints and Coulomb’s frictional law are incorporated into the contact dynamic equations of the system to obtain the contact forces by Lagrangian multipliers. For impacts, multiple impacts are considered in the term of the complex configuration of the docking dynamics. Impulsive equations are deduced, and the distributing law which is also called the LZB method is applied for multiple impacts. Finally, simulation is realized and the numerical results for one working condition are presented.