Guaranteed Safe Satellite Guidance and Navigation Using Reachability Based Switching Controllers

Kristina Miller, Sean Phillips, Sayan Mitra

Abstract: The safety of satellites is an increasingly difficult requirement as launches of new satellites increase the clutter of space environments. The deployment of new, experimental controllers is important to increase the autonomous capabilities of satellites but may be at odds with safety. In this work, we consolidate these two goals by synthesizing a formally safe controller and a runtime assurance logic that can switch between the safety and experimental controllers to guarantee the safe operation of a satellite. This switching logic leverages reachable and recoverable sets. We deploy the synthesized safety controller and switching logic in a close-proximity scenarios with both static and dynamic obstacles and show that the satellite remains safe.