Designing a Software Architecture for the Precision Assembly of Space Structures

摘要

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2022-2077.vid As NASA’s space exploration and science missions expand in complexity, longevity, and distance beyond earth’s orbit, Orbital Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing (OSAM) technologies and concepts have become a critical area of ongoing research and innovation. Artemis’ Moon-to-Mars goals of building sustainable elements on and around the Moon and Mars that allow our robots and astronauts to explore and conduct more scientific research will demand in situ resource utilization, construction, and maintenance to succeed. In-space Assembly (ISA), as a sub-component of OSAM, focuses on the on-orbit building or fabrication of mission infrastructure and payloads. One such ISA application is highlighted by the recent NASA In-Space Assembled Telescope (iSAT) study, which stated that the next generation of space observatories will exceed the fairing size of existing or even planned launch vehicles and ISA has emerged as a viable approach for observatory assembly. Research efforts at NASA Langley Research Center have led to the design of a novel TriTruss structural concept for the modular construction of large complex persistent platforms. The TriTruss design and other developing OSAM technologies enable larger and persistent space missions that would not be possible with single-launch-sized structures. For example, 20 meter or larger telescopes or orbital platform applications. However, the increased complexity will require autonomous operations for the construction and maintenance of long-term infrastructure to achieve mission success. NASA’s Precision Assembly of Space Structures (PASS) project is focused on the structural and autonomy capabilities required to construct an iSAT in deep space. PASS research efforts will develop and validate critical technologies needed for effective efficient on-orbit assembly that can be confidently adopted for future systems. PASS will utilize the TriTruss modules to demonstrate the autonomous modular assembly of a 20m-class iSAT mirror backbone structure including simulated mirrors and wiring harness. In this paper, we address the software and hardware design considerations, technologies, and challenges of designing a robust robotics framework for assembling modular space structures in support of In Space Assembly missions in general as well as for PASS specifically.