Wigbert Fehse (born 4 December 1937 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

) is a German engineer and researcher in the area of automatic space navigation, guidance, control and docking/berthing.

Biography

Fehse studied mechanics and aircraft guidance, navigation and control at the

Technical University of Berlin The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was ...

(

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

), where he received his master's degree in 1965. In 1972, the doctor's degree (summa cum laude) has been conferred on him by the Aerospace Institute of the Technical University of Berlin for his research and thesis on hydrostatic bearings as frictionless suspension in navigation instruments. In addition, in 1965 through 1973, he was responsible for the development of inertial navigation sensors and gyrostabilizers for satellites at Teldix (now Rockwell Collins, Inc.) in Heidelberg (Germany). In the following years he worked at

ESTEC The European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) is the European Space Agency's main technology development and test centre for spacecraft and space technology. It is situated in Noordwijk, South Holland, in the western Netherlands, altho ...

, the main technology development and test centre for spacecraft and space technology of the

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

(ESA) at Noordwijk,

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, on attitude control and precision pointing problems and became later Head of the Navigation and Guidance Section. There, he and his teams at ESA and in industry developed basic techniques and technologies for automated rendezvous and docking of spacecraft, which are being applied in international space projects, such as the

Automated Transfer Vehicle The Automated Transfer Vehicle, originally Ariane Transfer Vehicle or ATV, was an expendable cargo spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), used for space cargo transport in 2008–2015. The ATV design was launched to orbit fiv ...

(ATV), the first West-European spacecraft that docked automatically to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

(ISS) in April 2008. Since his retirement in 2002, Fehse supports European space companies as a consultant and adviser in rendezvous and coupling issues. These include rendezvous with non-cooperative targets (e.g. removal of space debris in

Low Earth Orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

) and servicing of

geostationary satellites A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular geosynchronous orbit in altitude ...

disturbed by the effects of

solar pressure Radiation pressure is the mechanical pressure exerted upon any surface due to the exchange of momentum between the object and the electromagnetic field. This includes the momentum of light or electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength that is a ...

. Furthermore, he continues to give specific lectures at universities and international institutes and industry. Fehse is internationally known for his work in the area of ''automated rendezvous and docking/berthing of spacecraft''. In addition to his numerous publications, his handbook on ''Automated Rendezvous and Docking of Spacecraft'' has been widely recognized. In 2011, his handbook has been translated into the Chinese language. He contributed to the Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering - issued in 2010 - by writing the section on close proximity rendezvous and docking (RVD). and - in 2013 - he wrote "Safety of Rendezvous and Docking Operations" as part of the Handbook on "Safety Design for Space Operations"W. Fehse: ''Safety of Rendezvous and Docking Operations'', in Chapter 8 of Handbook on "Safety Design for Space Operations", by Tommaso Scobba (Editor-in-Chief),

Elsevier Elsevier () is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, '' Trends'', th ...

(publisher), 2013, ,

Publications (short list)

*B. Claudinon, W. Fehse: ''Drivers, Techniques and Constraints of an Automatic Rendezvous and Docking Concept'', XXXV IAF Congress, Lausanne 1984 *W. Fehse: ''Rendezvous and Docking Technology Development for Future European Missions'', ESA Journal 1985, Vol. 9 *A. Elving, W. Fehse: ''Simulation Tools for the Development of an Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking System'', Intelligent Autonomous Systems, An International Conference, Amsterdam 1986, *W. Fehse, R.H. Bentall: ''Motion Simulation for In-Orbit Operations'', First European In-Orbit Operations Technology Symposium, Darmstadt, September 1887 (ESA SP-272) *W. Fehse, A. Tobias, A. Getzschmann, M. Caldichoury, P. Maute, M. Attanasio: ''The role of Pilot and Automatic Onboard System in Future Rendezvous and Docking Operations'', IAF-88-037 *W. Fehse, A. Tobias, C. Champetier, J.M. Pairot, C. Pauvert: ''A Guidance, Navigation and Control System for Rendezvous and Proximity Operations Between Hermes, the Columbus Free-Flyer and the Space Station Freedom'', AAS-91-063 *W. Fehse, A. Vankov, P. Chliaev, F. Ankersen, A. Alyoshin: ''Remote Intervention in Automatic Onboard GNC Systems'', 3rd International Conference on Spacecraft GNC Systems, Noordwijk, November 1996 (ESA SP-381) *W. Fehse, G. Ortega: ''Operator Monitoring and Support System for Rendezvous and Docking'', Paper ID: 2a004, SpaceOps98: Proceedings, Fifth International Symposium on Space Mission Operations and Ground Data Systems, Tokyo 1998 *M. Cislaghi, W. Fehse, D. Paris, F. Ankersen: ''The ATV Rendezvous Pre- Development Programme (ARP)'', Proceedings of the 22nd AAS Guidance and Control Conference, Beckenridge, Colorado, 1999 *W. Fehse: ''Automated Rendezvous and Docking of Spacecraft'', Cambridge Aerospace Series 16, Cambridge University Press, 2003, *W.Fehse: ''Disturbance by Solar Pressure of Rendezvous Trajectories in GEO'', 5th ICATT 2012, International Conference on Astrodynamics Tools and Techniques, ESA-Estec, Noordwijk, May 2012

References

External links

Handbook Automated Rendezvous and Docking of Spacecraft
(englisch)
Close Proximity Rendezvous and Docking (RVD)
Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering, Wiley Online Library, 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fehse, Wigbert 1937 births Living people German aerospace engineers Engineers from Berlin