Simulation Results of ISS AR&D Using Only Range Images

NASA’s future plans for space vehicles call for the ability to automatically rendezvous and dock (AR&D) with the International Space Station (ISS) and other targets. This requires sensors and algorithms capable of determining the relative position and orientation (pose) between the target and chase vehicles under the drastically varying lighting conditions of low Earth orbit and beyond. To this end, Ball Aerospace has developed algorithms to produce six degree-of-freedom navigation data from 3D point clouds. The algorithms require a-priori knowledge of the target vehicle geometry and a range image of the target vehicle for in-flight pose determination (no visible or reflective targets are needed). The algorithms have been incorporated into a simulation that includes a flash LIDAR model, orbital dynamics, vehicle thrust control, and a three-dimensional model of the ISS. The flash LIDAR is used as the only relative navigation sensor during AR&D. In this paper we present the results of the docking simulation, including the accuracy of the pose determination algorithms during a successful approach and docking with ISS.