<title>Ranger telerobotic shuttle experiment (RTSX): status report</title>

Abstract

This paper updates the status of the Ranger Telerobotic Shuttle Experiment. The first Ranger mission is a Space Shuttle-based flight experiment to demonstrate key telerobotic technologies for servicing assets in Earth orbit. The flight system will be teleoperated from on-board the Space Shuttle and form a ground control station at the NASA Johnson Space Center. The robot, along with supporting equipment and task elements, will be located in the Shuttle payload bay. A number of relevant servicing operations will be performed - including extravehicular activity worksite setup, orbit replaceable unit exchange, and other dexterous tasks. The program is underway toward an anticipated launch date in CY2000, and the hardware and software for the flight article and a neutral buoyancy functional equivalent are transitional from design to manufacture. This paper addresses the technical and programmatic status of the flight experiment, and lays out plans for the future.