{"id":498,"date":"2021-11-10T18:08:24","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T18:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/?page_id=498"},"modified":"2025-08-14T17:52:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T17:52:49","slug":"cling-and-clingers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/research\/rendezvous-and-proximity-operations-rpo\/cling-and-clingers\/","title":{"rendered":"CLING and CLINGERS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2><strong>The Mission<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Compliant, Low-profile, Independent, Non-protruding, Genderless and Electronic Rendezvous System (CLINGERS), investigates the integration of traditional docking mechanisms with RPO sensing to enhance safety through cooperation and real-time communication. The main goal of this project was to address limitations in the efficiency of RPO engagements by testing three modes with varying levels of cooperation and communication. Testing of CLINGERS was conducted on the International Space Station, using NASA Astrobees as a 6-DoF mobility platform to characterize the RPO modes.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/04\/iss071e462658.jpg\" alt=\"GMT225_13_38_For POIC_Jeanette Epps_1041_Astrobee Clingers\" height=\"5504\" width=\"8256\" title=\"GMT225_13_38_For POIC_Jeanette Epps_1041_Astrobee Clingers\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t<h2><strong>CLING<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Created\/patented by Dr Berok Khoshnevis from USC, CLING was meant to be a genderless traditional mechanical coupling system that can be put on any type of vehicle or platform to make an automatic joint connection.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/08\/Picture1.png\" alt=\"Picture1\" height=\"291\" width=\"385\" title=\"Picture1\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2021\/10\/rpo-2.png\" alt=\"Students Working Inside Glass Hood with Apparatus\" height=\"412\" width=\"708\" title=\"rpo-2\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t<h2><strong>CLING + ERS<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In recognition of the growing demand for on-orbit servicing applications, SERC set out to improve the safety and efficiency of spacecraft rendezvous operations. Traditionally, servicer spacecraft must perform multiple separate functions by sensing the range and bearing of a target before physically docking with it. These functions are typically handled by distinct sensor and mechanical systems. SERC initiated research with the Aerospace Corporation to investigate merging these two disparate functions into a single system. This resulted in CLINGERS, where -ERS stands for Electronic Rendezvous Sensors.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/09\/thumbnail_Twoclings-floatbots.png\" alt=\"Early tests of prototype CLINGERS units\" height=\"325\" width=\"475\" title=\"thumbnail_Twoclings-floatbots\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/08\/Picture1.jpg\" alt=\"Picture1\" height=\"438\" width=\"376\" title=\"Picture1\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"CLING ERS 2 FloatBot Dock\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZOE4Tqa6_Ak?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\t\n\t<h2><strong>Astrobee<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>CLINGERS was tested inside the ISS starting in June 2023 using the Ames Research Lab&#8217;s Astrobee free-flying robotic system.\u00a0 The use of Astrobee free-flyers has provided an invaluable experimental space to explore multi-control challenges and analyze both the limits of traditional RPO and the advantages of cooperative RPO. <\/p>\n<p>Connection to Astrobee is done through their Guest Science APKs, which use its High-Level Processor (HLP) and collect data in ROS topics. The Guest Science Manager is a critical application built into the HLP that allows the APK to receive commands from the Ground Data System at Johnson Space Center. The Guest Science Library allows APKs to communicate with the Guest Science Manager Data received in the Astrobee Payload Port. This information is gathered by the CLINGERS APK, decoded, and parsed to execute Astrobee GNC.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-12-at-1.46.16-PM.png\" alt=\"Screenshot 2025-08-12 at 1.46.16\u202fPM\" height=\"1276\" width=\"2430\" title=\"Screenshot 2025-08-12 at 1.46.16\u202fPM\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-12-at-1.48.12-PM.png\" alt=\"Screenshot 2025-08-12 at 1.48.12\u202fPM\" height=\"1276\" width=\"1920\" title=\"Screenshot 2025-08-12 at 1.48.12\u202fPM\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t<p><em>Images courtesy of NASA.<\/em><\/p>\n\t<h2><strong>Testing and Validation<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Early ground testing at USC SERC and NASA Ames helped validate the 3 RPO modes and PnP algorithm. Testing of CLINGERS was performed in the Astrobee facility located at NASA Ames Research Center, using their Granite Lab.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-07-at-1.39.34-PM.png\" alt=\"Screenshot 2025-08-07 at 1.39.34\u202fPM\" height=\"818\" width=\"1046\" title=\"Screenshot 2025-08-07 at 1.39.34\u202fPM\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/09\/CLINGERS-1.jpg\" alt=\"Two cube satellites inside the International Space Station\" height=\"336\" width=\"600\" title=\"CLINGERS-1\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/04\/Assy-Smile2.jpg\" alt=\"Assy-Smile2\" height=\"1512\" width=\"2016\" title=\"Assy-Smile2\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/12\/armes-test-4.jpg\" alt=\"Render of deployed satellite orbiting around Earth\" height=\"600\" width=\"1200\" title=\"armes-test-4\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-08-07-at-1.35.07-PM.png\" alt=\"Screenshot 2025-08-07 at 1.35.07\u202fPM\" height=\"890\" width=\"1300\" title=\"Screenshot 2025-08-07 at 1.35.07\u202fPM\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/09\/CLINGERS-2.jpg\" alt=\"Two cube satellites inside the International Space Station\" height=\"338\" width=\"600\" title=\"CLINGERS-2\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t<h2><strong>ISS On-Orbit Testing<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Testing for all three configurations has been performed in the 6-DoF International Space Station microgravity environment from varying initial separation distances to determine the robustness of the PnP algorithm while identifying the most efficient RPO configuration.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2024\/10\/rpo_nasa-1.jpg\" alt=\"rpo_nasa-1\" height=\"800\" width=\"1200\" title=\"rpo_nasa-1\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/04\/OverheadISSScience3-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"OverheadISSScience3\" height=\"1706\" width=\"2560\" title=\"OverheadISSScience3\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/08\/Science6_Don_TwoClingers.png\" alt=\"Science6_Don_TwoClingers\" height=\"895\" width=\"1609\" title=\"Science6_Don_TwoClingers\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2024\/10\/rpo_nasa-2.jpg\" alt=\"rpo_nasa-2\" height=\"800\" width=\"1200\" title=\"rpo_nasa-2\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t<em>Images courtesy of NASA \/ Crew: Jeanette Epps and Don Pettit.<\/em>\n\t<h2><strong>Publications<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Please go to the Publications page for all CLINGERS publications.<\/p>\n\t<h2><strong>Support<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The CLINGERS team is grateful to the project team at CASIS for enabling this unique innovation to be tested in the ISS, and the engineers and managers at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) for their support of CLINGERS and guidance in all of the Astrobee operations.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Mission The Compliant, Low-profile, Independent, Non-protruding, Genderless and Electronic Rendezvous System (CLINGERS), investigates the integration of traditional docking mechanisms with RPO sensing to enhance safety through cooperation and real-time communication. The main goal of this project was to address limitations in the efficiency of RPO engagements by testing three modes with varying levels of&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":569,"featured_media":0,"parent":96,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"news_source":"","news_author":"","external_news_link":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-498","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>CLING and CLINGERS - Space Engineering Research Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/research\/rendezvous-and-proximity-operations-rpo\/cling-and-clingers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CLING and CLINGERS - Space Engineering Research Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Mission The Compliant, Low-profile, Independent, Non-protruding, Genderless and Electronic Rendezvous System (CLINGERS), investigates the integration of traditional docking mechanisms with RPO sensing to enhance safety through cooperation and real-time communication. 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