Session
Pre-Conference Posters Session I
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
Demand for more complex space systems is ever increasing as the scale of the future missions expands. Accordingly, much focus has been given recently to innovations in on-orbit assembly and servicing to ensure those missions are executed in a time-efficient manner. The past on-orbit servicing demonstrations have involved large satellites that were designed to dock/berth and service specific client satellites, and did not leverage the current advancements in small satellite technology. The U.S. Naval Academy (USNA) is contributing to advancing the onorbit servicing and assembly technology with a next-generation robotic arm Intelligent Space Assembly Robot (ISAR) system, which is envisioned to operate independently or as a constellation of 3U CubeSats and seeks to demonstrate semi-autonomous robotic assembly capabilities on-orbit on a nano-satellite scale.
This paper will present an overview of the ISAR system, outline design, operation, and demonstration modifications for the on-orbit demonstrator, analyze the results from the ground test platform, and discuss the interfacing between existing robotic operations structures and advanced sensors. It will also focus on the analysis of cost effectiveness of the proposed mission architecture by characterizing the operation envelope of CubeSat-based assembly satellite constellations and volumetric efficiency analysis of on-orbit assembly using “Bin of Parts”.
Characterization of Semi-Autonomous On-Orbit Assembly CubeSat Constellation
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Demand for more complex space systems is ever increasing as the scale of the future missions expands. Accordingly, much focus has been given recently to innovations in on-orbit assembly and servicing to ensure those missions are executed in a time-efficient manner. The past on-orbit servicing demonstrations have involved large satellites that were designed to dock/berth and service specific client satellites, and did not leverage the current advancements in small satellite technology. The U.S. Naval Academy (USNA) is contributing to advancing the onorbit servicing and assembly technology with a next-generation robotic arm Intelligent Space Assembly Robot (ISAR) system, which is envisioned to operate independently or as a constellation of 3U CubeSats and seeks to demonstrate semi-autonomous robotic assembly capabilities on-orbit on a nano-satellite scale.
This paper will present an overview of the ISAR system, outline design, operation, and demonstration modifications for the on-orbit demonstrator, analyze the results from the ground test platform, and discuss the interfacing between existing robotic operations structures and advanced sensors. It will also focus on the analysis of cost effectiveness of the proposed mission architecture by characterizing the operation envelope of CubeSat-based assembly satellite constellations and volumetric efficiency analysis of on-orbit assembly using “Bin of Parts”.
