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Aerospace
Volume 12
Issue 10
10.3390/aerospace12100884
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This is an early access version, the complete PDF, HTML, and XML versions will be available soon.
Article

Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing of Spacecraft Relative Dynamics and Tethered Satellite System on a Tip-Tilt Flat-Table Facility

by
Giuseppe Governale
1,*,
Armando Pastore
1,
Matteo Clavolini
1,
Mattia Li Vigni
1,
Christian Bellinazzi
1,
Catello Leonardo Matonti
1,
Stefano Aliberti
1,
Riccardo Apa
1 and
Marcello Romano
2
1
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Turin, Italy
2
Chair of Astrodynamics, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Willy-Messerschmitt-Str. 11, 82024 Taufkirchen, Germany
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Aerospace 2025, 12(10), 884; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace12100884
Submission received: 18 July 2025 / Revised: 7 September 2025 / Accepted: 25 September 2025 / Published: 29 September 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue From Satellite Systems Design, Verification and Testing to Spacecraft Operations)
Versions Notes

Abstract

This article presents a compact tip-tilting platform designed for hardware-in-the-loop emulation of spacecraft relative dynamics and a physical setup for testing tethered systems. The architecture consists of a granite slab supported by a universal joint and two linear actuators to control its orientation. This configuration allows a Floating Spacecraft Simulator to move on the surface in a quasi-frictionless environment under the effect of gravitational acceleration. The architecture includes a dedicated setup to emulate tethered satellite dynamics, providing continuous feedback on the tension along the tether through a mono-axial load cell. By adopting the Buckingham “π” theorem, the dynamic similarity is introduced for the ground-based experiment to reproduce the orbital dynamics. Proof-of-concept results demonstrate the testbed’s capability to accurately reproduce the Hill–Clohessy–Wiltshire equations. Moreover, the results of the deployed tethered system dynamics are presented. This paper also details the system architecture of the testbed and the methodologies employed during the experimental campaign.
Keywords: hardware-in-the-loop testbed; floating spacecraft simulator; tethered satellite systems; real-time control algorithms hardware-in-the-loop testbed; floating spacecraft simulator; tethered satellite systems; real-time control algorithms

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MDPI and ACS Style

Governale, G.; Pastore, A.; Clavolini, M.; Li Vigni, M.; Bellinazzi, C.; Matonti, C.L.; Aliberti, S.; Apa, R.; Romano, M. Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing of Spacecraft Relative Dynamics and Tethered Satellite System on a Tip-Tilt Flat-Table Facility. Aerospace 2025, 12, 884. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace12100884

AMA Style

Governale G, Pastore A, Clavolini M, Li Vigni M, Bellinazzi C, Matonti CL, Aliberti S, Apa R, Romano M. Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing of Spacecraft Relative Dynamics and Tethered Satellite System on a Tip-Tilt Flat-Table Facility. Aerospace. 2025; 12(10):884. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace12100884

Chicago/Turabian Style

Governale, Giuseppe, Armando Pastore, Matteo Clavolini, Mattia Li Vigni, Christian Bellinazzi, Catello Leonardo Matonti, Stefano Aliberti, Riccardo Apa, and Marcello Romano. 2025. "Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing of Spacecraft Relative Dynamics and Tethered Satellite System on a Tip-Tilt Flat-Table Facility" Aerospace 12, no. 10: 884. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace12100884

APA Style

Governale, G., Pastore, A., Clavolini, M., Li Vigni, M., Bellinazzi, C., Matonti, C. L., Aliberti, S., Apa, R., & Romano, M. (2025). Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing of Spacecraft Relative Dynamics and Tethered Satellite System on a Tip-Tilt Flat-Table Facility. Aerospace, 12(10), 884. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace12100884

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