Effects of Multivantage Point Systems on the Teleoperation of Spacecraft Docking

Abstract

Rendezvous and docking with uncooperative target objects are driving capabilities for future robotic on-orbit servicing and space debris removal systems. A teleoperation system augments a robotic system with the perception, cognition, and decision capabilities of a human operator, which can lead to a more capable and more flexible telerobotic system. The ThirdEye system was developed in order to support the human operator in the complex relative navigation task of final approach and docking. It provides the operator with a flexible camera vantage point which can be positioned freely in the relevant space around and between the chaser and target spacecraft. The primary and secondary camera views, an attitude head-up display, and a trajectory prediction display are integrated into an intuitive graphical user interface. A validation study was conducted to evaluate the effects of this ThirdEye system on the performance of the teleoperation system during final approach and docking with uncooperative, rotating targets. The results of this study show that the ThirdEye system increases the overall task success rate by 15% and improves operator situation awareness, without having negative impact on the usage of system resources. The partial failure rates are decreased by 20-30%. In high-difficulty scenarios, the operator task load is increased due to the dual task of teleoperating the camera arm and the spacecraft in tandem, which leads to a minor increase in failure rate in these scenarios.