System test results from the GNC experiments on the PRISMA in-orbit test bed

The PRISMA in-orbit test bed will demonstrate guidance, navigation, and control strategies for spacecraft formation flying and rendezvous. The project is funded by the Swedish National Space Board and the prime contractor is the Swedish Space Corporation. The project is further supported by the German Aerospace Center, the Technical University of Denmark, and the French Space Agency. PRISMA was launched on June 15, 2010 and after three weeks of operations, all on-board systems and units have passed an initial commissioning phase. Separation of the two PRISMA satellites from each other is expected by mid-August 2010. PRISMA consists of two spacecraft: MAIN and TARGET. The MAIN spacecraft has full orbit control capability while TARGET is attitude controlled only. The Swedish Space Corporation is responsible for three groups of guidance, navigation, and control experiments. These experiments include GPS- and vision-based formation flying during which the spacecraft will fly in passive as well as forced motion. The three experiments are: autonomous formation flying, proximity operations with final approach/recede maneuvers, and autonomous rendezvous. This paper presents system test results from two of these experiments as obtained with the flight-ready system. The system tests consist of a series of simulations performed on the flight model spacecraft with a large amount of hardware in the loop. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.