Design and Development of a Relocatable Robotic Arm for Servicing On-Orbit Modular Spacecraft

Abstract

The raise of orbital robotics opens a new horizon of possibilities for upcoming space missions. In the context of a global space sustainability, this paper deals with the design, development and testing of a new generation of robotic manipulator for on-orbit maintenance and servicing. This device tackles especially modular missions related to assembly and reconfiguration of modular satellites, coupled with the paradigm of standardization of spacecraft featuring standard interconnects. This robotic system benefits from an innovative multidisciplinary design for performing manipulation and relocation tasks over compatible spacecraft structures. The proposed robotic manipulator is experimentally evaluated on a representative ground demonstrator in a laboratory environment.