METHOD FOR SAFE APPROACH OF A SERVICE SPACECRAFT TO A SERVICED SPACECRAFT Russian patent published in 2020 - IPC B64G3/00 

FIELD: astronautics.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to observation or tracking of flight of space vehicles and can be used for autonomous safe approach of service spacecraft with serviced spacecraft. Practical use of the proposed invention is related to performing orbital servicing in near-Earth space and beyond. For safe approach of service spacecraft with serviced spacecraft, approach is performed based on data of lidar and video recorder installed on service spacecraft. On the flat screen of the video recorder, a fragment of the image of the serviced spacecraft is selected, controlled approach to multiple magnifications of the size of the selected fragment is performed. In controlled approaches, size of selected fragment is determined based on lidar data and distance between space vehicles as per data of video recorder. Next controlled approaches are performed at a lower speed when observing fragments of a smaller size until a safe rate of mechanical contact is achieved.

EFFECT: safe approach of a service space vehicle to a serviced spacecraft is provided.

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