The growing space debris poses a serious threat to the safety of the space environment, and the necessity and urgency of active space debris removal have reached a consensus around the world. As one of the key technologies for debris removal, space debris capture has received extensive attention from researchers. In this paper, a space debris impact adhesion capture method is proposed, which involves a device integrated with gecko-inspired adhesion material at the front end and connected to the service spacecraft via a tether. The device can be launched from the service spacecraft, collides with the debris target and adheres to the debris surface to capture. The method provides the advantages of standoff distance allowed, high compatibility with different shaped targets and almost no risk of generating new debris. In order to provide a suitable preload for the adhesives, the device is put forward with a variable damping magnetorheological fluid buffer which could adjust the damping force in real time during the impact process to achieve reliable adhesion capture. The damping force fuzzy control method using impact force and remaining buffer stroke as input is designed. The simulations are carried out and the results show the effectiveness of the preload control method, thus proving a promotion for space debris impact adhesion capture method.

The cutting force provides important information such as tool condition, chips information, and machining parameters selection. Thus, many researchers have proposed some methods for cutting force monitoring. However, most of them are only applied in the laboratory due to lower flexibility and complex installation. In this paper, a split multi-axis toolholder dynamometer is proposed and developed, which can equip different types of machining spindle and fit for multi-size tool. It consists of six capacitive sensors that can sense four deformations in vertical direction and two deformations in circumferential direction. Meanwhile, the distance between two plates in the vertical and circumferential capacitive sensors was adjusted separately. An acquisition and wireless transmission unit was designed to detect the capacitive variation and then transfer data to upper computer. Finally, a standard tool holder and a force sensing unit, a bottom socket, an acquisition and wireless transmission unit, a lithium battery, a cover were installed and debugged as a whole system. To validate its static and dynamic characteristics, various tests are conducted. The result demonstrates that the toolholder dynamometer can accurately and reliably monitor four-axis cutting force in the milling and drilling operations.

Space robots are vital for in-orbit maintenance of large satellites, but dense payloads and complex surface structures pose challenges for safe crawling operations. This study proposes an improved trajectory planning framework for three-dimensional satellite surfaces. In the path search stage, the traditional A* algorithm is enhanced with traction cost, reflecting surface adhesion, and proximity cost, ensuring collision avoidance. The resulting comprehensive cost function integrates path length, safety, and feasibility, producing paths more consistent with real mobility constraints. In the smoothing stage, cubic B-spline curves refine the discrete path, with real-time collision detection embedded in the optimization of control points to prevent trajectory penetration. Simulations show that the method achieves millisecond-level planning, with path length reduced by 6.82% and trajectory smoothness significantly improved, eliminating the phenomenon of sharp turns with folded corners. The approach ensures continuous, stable, and collision-free movement of space robots, highlighting its potential for reliable in-orbit operations.

With the rapid development of space technology, the complexity of spacecraft is increasing and the cost of spacecraft is growing. Therefore, it is increasingly important to use space crawling robot to provide state sensing and maintenance services of large spacecraft extravehicular equipment. In order to ensure the reliable attachment of the robot to the target star in the gravity-free space environment, this paper proposes an attached foot scheme which can be applied to the space crawling robot. The proposed attached foot integrates the two technical approaches of claw grabbing and dry adhesion, which can effectively solve the repeatable attachment problem of the star surface with different characteristics. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed technical approaches are verified by simulation.