Theory and Applications of Multi-Tethers in Space

This book offers a comprehensive overview of recently developed space multi-tethers, such as maneuverable space tethered nets and space tethered formation. For each application, it provides detailed derivatives to describe and analyze the mathematical model of the system, and then discusses the design and proof of different control schemes for various problems. The dynamics modeling presented is based on Newton and Lagrangian mechanics, and the book also introduces Hamilton mechanics and Poincaré surface of section for dynamics analysis, and employs both centralized and distributed controllers to derive the formation question of the multi-tethered system. In addition to the equations and text, it includes 3D design drawings, schematic diagrams, control scheme blocks and tables to make it easy to understand.

 

This book is intended for researchers and graduate students in the fields of astronautics, control science, and engineering.

Professor Panfeng Huang is a doctoral supervisor at the School of Astronautics, Northwestern Polytechnical University. As the Head of Research Center for Intelligent Robotics in NPU, he received several national awards and honorary titles. An expert in Space Teleoperation, Space Robotics, and Intelligent Control, his research focuses on the key technological and scientific problems in engineering practice. He was responsible for developing the first remote operating system for space robotic arms in China. He was also the first person to develop and refine a tethered space robotic system for on-orbit capture, including design theory and methodology. In addition, he has hosted and implemented more than twenty national projects, and published more than forty SCI journal papers and three monographs. He holds 55 national invention patents and was awarded the Military Progress Prize in Science and Technology.

 

Fan Zhang is an Associate Research Professor at the School of Astronautics, Northwestern Polytechnical University. She has published the English book Tethered Space Robot: Dynamics, Measurement, and Control (Elsevier Academic Press), and more than 20 journal and conference papers. Her research focuses on the dynamics and control of tethered space robots, space multi-tethers, and maneuverable tethered space net robots.