Small Space Robots for In-orbit Operations

人们越来越有兴趣将机器人航天器部署在一系列在轨作业中；包括组装和维修任务。这些措施包括建造大型结构、对即将结束任务的功能性航天器进行现场修复，以及清理空间碎片。之前的技术演示，如轨道快车和实验测试卫星使用的是中型到大型机器人航天器，目前行业的趋势是建造更大的机器人航天器，以应对不断增长的目标系统的规模。然而，很少有研究着眼于低成本、缩小规模的替代方案的可行性。这个项目是为了研究小型航天器的效用，以及两个相同的系统如何对接并重新配置为连体双胞胎机器人系统。这种小型机器人航天器的第一代将在下文中被称为“双星”。Twin-Sat的优势之一是，它将产生一个更稳定、更大的基地航天器，带有执行重型任务的双臂，从而提高其能力。另一个优点是连体双胞胎能够将自己解耦成单独的航天器，允许他们处理需要多个代理的小规模任务。这项研究的主要目标是进行系统级机电设计迭代，以确定单个系统的最佳尺寸，并对两个完全相同的对接空间机器人“Twin-Sat”的动态特性进行建模。此外，还将评估机械臂的灵巧性和有效载荷能力，包括是否具有内置合规性。这项研究还将提供空间机器人的详细工程模型，Twin-Sat在不同操作条件下的控制算法，以及基于广泛模拟和实验验证的尺寸建议。该项目由萨里卫星技术有限公司(SSTL)提供部分资金，于2018年10月开始实施。

There is an increasing interest to deploy robotic spacecraft for a range of in-orbit operations; including assembly and servicing missions. These involve building large structures, the in-situ repair of functional spacecraft approaching the end of their mission, and the cleaning-up of space debris. Previous technology demonstrations, such as Orbital Express and the Experimental Test Satellite use medium to large robotic spacecraft, and the current trend in the industry is towards building larger robotic spacecraft to handle the ever-growing size of target systems. However, few studies have looked into the feasibility of a low cost, downsized alternative. This project is tailored to look at the utility of a small spacecraft and how two identical systems can dock and reconfigure into a conjoined twin robotic system. The first generation of this small robotic spacecraft will be hereafter referred to as "Twin-Sat". One of the advantages of Twin-Sat is that it will result in creating a more stable and bigger base spacecraft with dual arms for executing heavy duty tasks, therefore increasing its capability. The other advantage is that the conjoined twins would be capable of decoupling themselves into individual spacecraft, allowing them to handle small-scale tasks that require multiple agents.The key objectives of this research are to conduct a system level electro-mechanical design iteration to determine the optimum sizing of the single system as well as to model the dynamic characteristics of two identical, docked space robots; "Twin-Sat". Further to this the dexterity and payload capacity of the robotic arm, with and without in-built compliance will be assessed. This research will also deliver a detailed engineering model of the space robot, control algorithms for Twin-Sat under different operating conditions, and size recommendations based on extensive simulation and experimental validation. This project is partly funded by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) and began in October 2018.