Abstract Hardware-in-the-loop simulation and test has been an essential part in the development of spacecraft formation flight, rendezvous, capture/docking, and spacecraft robotics systems since the Gemini project. The need to recreate the kinematics and/or dynamics of spacecraft motion on the ground has led to numerous simulators and testbeds at academic institutions, government facilities, and industry laboratories. The simulation facilities range from small air-bearing tables at universities to building-sized simulators for full-sized systems tests at NASA centers. For the first time to the best knowledge of the authors, the paper presents a systematic classification of spacecraft maneuver simulators into kinematic, dynamic, hybrid, and kino-dynamic systems and discusses the design alternatives, trade-offs and limitations to be considered for each type of simulator. The paper also lists current and past systems reported in literature, along with their primary characteristics. It is thus complementary to existing literature focused on air-bearing spacecraft attitude simulators and air-bearing maneuver simulators. The goal of the paper is to inform designers of new facilities of the current state of the art and the existing experience in the field, and to inform spacecraft developers of existing testbeds in order for them to be able to plan test and experiment campaigns.

中文翻译：

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用于在轨接近机动实验室实验的运动学和动态航天器模拟器的历史调查

摘要 自双子座项目以来，硬件在环仿真和测试一直是航天器编队飞行、交会、捕获/对接和航天器机器人系统开发的重要组成部分。在地面上重建航天器运动的运动学和/或动力学的需要导致在学术机构、政府设施和工业实验室中出现了大量模拟器和测试台。模拟设施的范围从大学的小型空气轴承台到 NASA 中心用于全尺寸系统测试的建筑尺寸的模拟器。据作者所知，本文首次将航天器机动模拟器系统地分类为运动学、动力学、混合和运动学系统，并讨论了设计备选方案，每种类型的模拟器要考虑的权衡和限制。该论文还列出了文献中报道的当前和过去的系统，以及它们的主要特征。因此，它是对现有文献的补充，这些文献侧重于空气轴承航天器姿态模拟器和空气轴承机动模拟器。这篇论文的目的是让新设施的设计人员了解当前的技术水平和该领域的现有经验，并告知航天器开发人员现有的测试平台，以便他们能够计划测试和实验活动。