SERVING SATELLITE FOR ORBITAL SERVICES USING VARIABLE ENGINE CONTROL Russian patent published in 2022 - IPC B64G1/10 B64G1/26 B64G1/64 

FIELD: space technology.

SUBSTANCE: inventions group relates to space technology. A serving satellite to provide position-keeping services to the primary satellite. The serving satellite may have a body and a gripping mechanism attached to the body. The gripping mechanism may be configured to be attached to a docking ring extending from the outer surface of the main satellite to form a connection between the main satellite and the serving satellite through the docking ring extending outwardly. Attaching the gripping mechanism to the docking ring may form a connected unit having a common center of mass. A serving satellite may have two motors and a controller. Said controller may maintain the coupled unit in a substantially stationary orbit by selectively orienting said two motors such that the thrust vectors of said two motors do not pass through a joint center of mass and each of them is offset from a joint center of mass.

EFFECT: position is maintained for the main satellite without determining the joint center of mass of the serving satellite and the main satellite.

20 cl, 16 dwg