Analysis of the Robot Subsystem Capability for Boulder Extraction in the Asteroid Redirect Mission

Abstract

The design of the robot subsystem of NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission presented the unique challenge of retrieving a 20-ton boulder sized sample from the surface of a near Earth asteroid using multiple robot arms mounted to vehicle capable of touching down on the surface of the asteroid. The robot arms planned for use on the mission were based on heritage from Mars rovers and Restore-L satellite servicing to aid in meeting mass, cost, and schedule goals, which put constraints on the design and led to the use of light weight, low stiffness robot arms. The design of the rest of the Capture Module (CAPM) relied on an extensive analysis of the load capability of the robot arms, which utilized a high fidelity model of the robot arm subsystem to evaluate a large number of extraction scenarios and identify impactful modifications to the system that would increase the probably of mission success.