Federal award (DELIVERY ORDER, fiscal year 2024)
Recipient: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF AEROSPACE ASSOCIATES
Awarding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Funding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Period of performance: 2019-05-29 to 2019-09-30
Current total value of award: $24893
Description: TRADE STUDY, MODELING, AND ANALYSIS OF ROBOTIC DOCKING AND BERTHING AT THE LUNAR ORBITAL PLATFORM-GATEWAY. NASA SEEKS TO CONSTRUCT THE LUNAR ORBITAL PLATFORM-GATEWAY OVER A PERIOD STARTING FROM 2020 AND ENDING IN 2028. ALTHOUGH DESIGNED TO BE A MANNED SPACE STATION, IT IS EXPECTED THAT THE GATEWAY WILL BE UNOCCUPIED FOR LONG STRETCHES TOTALING OVER 90% OF ITS LIFESPAN. TASKS SUCH AS DOCKING, BERTHING, MAINTENANCE, AND OTHER MANIPULATION TASKS DURING THE UNOCCUPIED PHASES MUST BE PERFORMED BY ROBOTS. SINCE THE ROUND-TRIP COMMUNICATION TIME IS APPROXIMATELY 3 SECONDS, FULL TELEOPERATION IS NOT FEASIBLE, AND SOME DEGREE OF SUPERVISED AUTONOMY WILL BE REQUIRED. THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS WORK ARE TO: 1) PERFORM A STUDY INCLUDING THE MODELING AND ANALYSIS OF SENSING AND CONTROLS REQUIREMENTS TO ENABLE SUPERVISED AUTONOMOUS ROBOTS TO PERFORM DOCKING, BERTHING, AND MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS, AND 2) PERFORM A TRADE STUDY WHICH WILL ASSESS THE STATE OF THE ART IN PLANNED GATEWAY ROBOTS TO INFORM THE DESIGN OF NEW ROBOTIC TOOLS TO ASSIST IN DOCKING AND BERTHING.