Planning for the Ranger Telerobotic Shuttle experiment on-orbit operations

摘要

The Ranger Telerobotic Shuttle Experiment is a Space Shuttle based flight experiment to demonstrate on-orbit telerobotic servicing technologies. Ranger will perform a number of activities varying from simple to complex. A task board for calibration and evaluation of basic robotic operations will be the focus of early operations. Extraction and insertion of a robot compatible orbit replaceable unit (ORU) representative of International Space Station ORUs will be performed. As a science focus, numerous repetitions of this task will be executed using different operators, time delays, operator environments, and control station configurations. Demonstration tasks will include change out of a Hubble Space Telescope style ORU and setup of a complex Articulating Portable Foot Restraint. The project is preparing for a launch opportunity in early 2002. The progress of the hardware and software for the flight vehicle and a neutral buoyancy simulator will be discussed as well as the plan for demonstrating the tasks on-orbit and rehearsing them on the ground in a neutral buoyancy environment.