Parameter optimization design method of complex space-web system

Space-web system woven by lightweight and pliable rope is a concept proposed for capturing non-cooperative target on orbits, and it has a great application prospect in dealing with space debris and dead spacecraft. After being thrown from a platform, it forms unstable configuration in space. Its deploying performance is greatly influenced by initial parameters. The optimization of parameter matching is a key technology for the space-web system design and test. The paper proposes error-tolerance as a quantitative description about the capturing performance of space-web system and establishes an optimization mathematical model where error tolerance is the objective function. Take capturing a target in a certain distance as an example, the Isight and ANSYS/LS-Dyna are combined to solve the mathematical model and the optimal design is obtained. The simulation of the optimal design verifies the validity of optimization model. Finally, the stability of the optimal design is discussed by orthogonal experiment and range analysis. The research provides some reference for the design of space-web system, the system tests on the ground and in space and the application of the space-web in the future. © 2016, Press of Chinese Journal of Aeronautics. All right reserved.