Research of attitude dynamics with time-varying inertia for space net capture robot system

Space net capture robot system provides a new kind of on-orbit capture strategy by using flexible tether-net system. Because the inertia time-varying characteristic during the net release and target capture procedure, the attitude dynamics of space net capture robot system is very different from general spacecraft. In this paper with a consideration about gradient of gravity, the inertia time-varying attitude dynamics for pre and post-capture are investigated, and series of simulations with different initial conditions are performed. The simulation results reveal that during the capture an obvious in-plane libration will take place, but the stability of equilibrium point will not be influenced. The result of the paper also provides a technology support for system attitude control in the subsequence research.