  In recent years, computer simulators of rigid-body systems have been
successfully used to improve and expand the field of developing new space
robots, becoming a leading tool for the preliminary investigation and
evaluation of space robotic missions. However, the impressive progress in
performance has not been matched yet by an improvement in modelling
capabilities, which remain limited to very basic representations of real
systems. We present a new approach to modelling and simulation of
collision-inclusive multibody dynamics by leveraging symbolic models generated
by a computer algebra system (CAS). While similar investigations into contact
dynamics on other domains exploit pre-existing models of common multibody
systems (e.g., industrial robot arms, humanoids, and wheeled robots), our focus
is on allowing researchers to develop models of novel designs of systems that
are not as common or yet to be fabricated: e.g., small spacecraft manipulators.
In this paper, we demonstrate the usefulness of our approach to investigate
spacecraft-debris collision dynamics.
