TY - JOUR AB - Purpose This paper aims to present a novel method for identification and classification of rotational motion for uncontrolled satellites. These processes are shown in context of close proximity orbital operations. In particular, it includes a manipulator arm mounted on chaser satellite and used to capture target satellites. In such situations, a precise extrapolation of the target’s docking port position is needed to determine the manipulator arm motion. The outcome of this analysis might be used in future debris removal or servicing space missions.Design/methodology/approach Nonlinear, and in some special cases, chaotic nature of satellite rotational motion was considered. Four parameters were defined: range of motion toward docking port, dominant frequencies, fractal dimension of the motion and its time dependencies.Findings The qualitative analysis was performed for presented cases of spacecraft rotational motion and for each case the respective parameters were calculated. The analysis shows that it is possible to detect the type of rotational motion.Originality/value A novel procedure allowing to estimate the type of satellite rotational motion based on fractal approach was proposed. VL - 91 IS - 2 SN - 1748-8842 DO - 10.1108/AEAT-01-2018-0049 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/AEAT-01-2018-0049 AU - Seweryn Karol AU - Sasiadek Jurek Z. PY - 2018 Y1 - 2018/01/01 TI - Satellite angular motion classification for active on-orbit debris removal using robots T2 - Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology PB - Emerald Publishing Limited SP - 317 EP - 332 Y2 - 2024/04/27 ER -