On-orbit servicing

Author

Stoll, Enrico ; Letschnik, JÜrgen ; Walter, Ulrich ; Artigas, Jordi ; Kremer, Philipp ; Preusche, Carsten ; Hirzinger, Gerd

Author_Institution

Massachusetts Inst. of Technol., Cambridge, MA, USA

Volume

16

Issue

4

fYear

2009

fDate

12/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

29

Lastpage

33

Abstract

Space robots were the topic of this paper. While on earth, nobody would follow such advice; in space, there are few other options than to replace a malfunctioning spacecraft. There are no repair shops and gas stations in the Earth orbit. Because of the lack of so-called on-orbit servicing (OOS) opportunities, some malfunctioning spacecraft continue operational work with reduced or hardly any performance. The only general modification, which can currently be undertaken to an arbitrary spacecraft in orbit, is a software update. In this paper, exploration and manipulation capabilities of space robots were discussed. Teleprescence through a data relay satellite and teleoperation capabilities were mentioned and discussed.

Keywords

aerospace robotics; human-robot interaction; satellite communication; telerobotics; data relay satellite; exploration capability; manipulation capability; on-orbit servicing feature; space robots; spacecraft repair; teleoperation; teleprescence; Delay; Humans; Infrared detectors; Low earth orbit satellites; Orbital robotics; Satellite broadcasting; Satellite ground stations; Space missions; Space shuttles; Space vehicles; On-orbit servicing; Space robotics; data relay satellite; physical human-robot interaction; telerobotics;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Robotics & Automation Magazine, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1070-9932

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/MRA.2009.934819

Filename

5306923