Cubesat mission concept for tethered electromagnetic docking demonstration

A new technology for cooperative docking manoeuvres is under study, aiming to reduce the proximity navigation and guidance requirements between chaser and target spacecraft. It involves the use of a tethered probe that is launched from the chaser and employs magnetic forces for automatic self-alignment and soft docking with the receiving interface on the target. After the achievement of soft docking, the tether allows for a safe joining between chaser and target simply by rewinding it, after the two-bodies relative dynamics has been stabilized. In this framework, a mission concept employing a 2U CubeSat is proposed, aiming to demonstrate the technology in space. The proposed CubeSat mission has the objective to demonstrate the feasibility and the effectiveness of tethered soft docking procedure between two collaborative spacecraft making use of magnetic forces. In particular, the self-guided magnetic capture and the reel system must be tested and validated