Failure effect analysis and reconfiguration of thrusters based on inverse simulation of manually controlled RVD

Fault analysis of man-in-loop systems is a valuable issue worthy of being studied, especially in projects including high risk and high investment like manned space missions. Spacecraft sometimes must have the fault tolerance to complete their task even after errors occurring. Inverse simulation was previously proved to achieve manually rendezvous and docking (RVD) successfully. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the potential applications of inverse simulation to undertake the thruster fault analysis and reconfigurations in manned RVD mission. Firstly, the inverse simulation system is established in a model predicted control structure. Then, the astronauts' operational strategy is analyzed through the thruster fault simulation, and an operational rate factor is proposed to assess the failure risk. In addition, the original configuration is transformed to strengthen the resistance under consideration of the fault tolerance. The comparative results indicate that the modified configuration can improve the performance effectively and then guarantee the success of the mission.