With the ever growing number of space debris in orbit, the need to prevent further space population is becoming more and more apparent. Refueling, servicing, inspection and deorbiting of spacecraft are some example missions that require precise navigation and docking in space. Having multiple, collaborating robots handling these tasks can greatly increase the efficiency of the mission in terms of time and cost. This article will introduce a modern and efficient control architecture for satellites on collaborative docking missions. The proposed architecture uses a centralized scheme that combines state-of-the-art, ad-hoc implementations of algorithms and techniques to maximize robustness and flexibility. It is based on a Model Predictive Controller (MPC) for which efficient cost function and constraint sets are designed to ensure a safe and accurate docking. A simulation environment is also presented to validate and test the proposed control scheme.

翻译：随着轨道空间碎片数量的持续增长，防止空间污染的需求日益凸显。航天器的燃料补加、在轨服务、状态检测与离轨处理等任务均需在太空中实现精确导航与对接。采用多台协作机器人执行此类任务可大幅提升任务的时间效率与经济性。本文提出一种面向协作对接任务的现代化高效卫星控制架构。该架构采用集中式方案，融合了最先进的专用算法与技术实现，以最大化系统的鲁棒性与灵活性。其核心是基于模型预测控制器（MPC），通过设计高效代价函数与约束集来确保安全精准的对接过程。文中同时构建了仿真环境，用于验证与测试所提出的控制方案。