{"id":96,"date":"2021-10-22T17:06:48","date_gmt":"2021-10-22T17:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/?page_id=96"},"modified":"2024-08-14T17:05:48","modified_gmt":"2024-08-14T17:05:48","slug":"rendezvous-and-proximity-operations-rpo","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/research\/rendezvous-and-proximity-operations-rpo\/","title":{"rendered":"Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<a onclick=\"topFunction()\" id=\"toTop\" aria-label=\"Go to top\">\n<\/a>\n\t<p>The SERC is working on several different modalities, techniques and areas that focus on the general area of rendezvous and proximity operations or RPO.\u00a0 RPO is typically associated with the ability or operation of two (or more) independent space objects that purposefully manuever to within close &#8220;proximity&#8221; of each other, via various rendezvous techniques.\u00a0 RPO is critical for any &#8220;servicing&#8221; missions that are coming on line this year, which may include inspection, repair, refuel, upgrade or assembly activities.\u00a0 RPO is a wide and robust area of research, which includes sensors, orbital dynamics techniques, processing and data fusion, and hardware for contact and dock.\u00a0 SERC is exploring multiple arenas within this robust field.\u00a0 Each are listed below.<\/p>\n\t<header>\n<h2>RPO Information<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#tfp\">Test Facility and Platforms<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#sg\">Standards and Guidelines<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#dcm\">Docking\/Capture Mechanisms<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#sdf\">Sensors and Data Fusion<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/header>\n\t<h2>Test Facility and Platforms<\/h2>\n<p>Over the years SERC has created and operated several unique frictionless facilities to support simulated Zero-G operations in support of RPO.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Microsatellite Dynamic Test Facility (MDTF -No longer operating).<\/strong>\u00a0 SERC Engineers created the 2nd largest surface platen for air bearing frictionless operations in the US.\u00a0 The facility was located at Northrop Grumman through a unique partnership at the time.<\/p>\n\t<h2>Standards and Guidelines<\/h2>\n<p>The SERC is a co-founding member of the Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations (CONFERS) which is an industry-led initiative to leverage best practices from government and industry to research, develop and publish non-binding, consensus-driven technical and operations standards for on-orbit servicing (OOS) and RPO.\u00a0 The SERC provided input to the technical evaluation and survey of past and present RPO related missions for consideration of past and current practices.\u00a0 Multiple papers were created that explored the past practices of RPO, postulated metrics for safety for design and operations, and offered a taxonomy of how to develop safety standards based on functions and attributes. Click on the button below to view publications:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/publications\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">View Publications<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For more information on CONFERS or to join please visit the CONFERS website, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.satelliteconfers.org\/\">www.satelliteconfers.org<\/a><\/p>\n\t<h2>Docking\/Capture Mechanisms<\/h2>\n<p>SERC&#8217;s docking or capture mechanism focus is on unique mechanisms to increase safety or flexibility in &#8220;space robotics&#8221;.\u00a0 The Lab has been working on multiple different types of &#8220;contact&#8221; or capture mechanisms for a variety of purposes:<\/p>\n<h3>Projects<\/h3>\n<article>\n    <section><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/research\/rendezvous-and-proximity-operations-rpo\/cling-and-clingers\/\">CLING and CLINGERS<\/a><br \/>CLING was developed to explore a genderless &#8220;standard&#8221; in contact\/docking mechanism.\u00a0 The first ISS Flight experiment in SERC&#8217;s history, CLINGERS will test out the mergence of traditional RPO sensors with a docking\/capture mechanism.<\/p><\/section>\n    <section><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/09\/clingers-dock.jpg\" alt=\"CLINGERS docking test\"\/><\/section>\n<\/article>\n<article>\n    <section><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/research\/rendezvous-and-proximity-operations-rpo\/reacch-reactive-electro-adhesion-capture-cloth\/\">REACCH (Reactive Electro-Adhesion Capture ClotH)<\/a><br \/>REACCH is a unique approach to merge multiple technologies into a gripper that is invariant to size\/volume\/shape or materials to contact with in space.\u00a0 (US Patent 2021\/0094709, Apr 2021)<\/p><\/section>\n    <section><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2021\/11\/reacch.jpg\" alt=\"REACCH CAD\"\/><\/section>\n<\/article>\n<article>\n    <section><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/research\/rendezvous-and-proximity-operations-rpo\/starfish-soft-translatable-advanced-robot-for-in-space-handling\/\">STARFISH (Soft Translatable Advanced Robot For In Space Handling)<\/a><br \/>STARFISH is an extension of REACCH, except its in pursuit of truly &#8220;soft&#8221; substrates for a manipulator or a robotic device.<\/p><\/section>\n    <section><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/09\/Standing-STARFISH.jpg\" alt=\"Standing STARFISH model made with 3D-printed plastic\"\/><\/section>\n<\/article>\n\t<h2>Sensors and Data Fusion<\/h2>\n\t<h3>Fusion of Sensors for RPO and Space Awareness<\/h3>\n<p>Varying modalities of sensor information at different points in the orbit that account for both light, darkness, glint and even temperature can be fused in realtime for various on orbit characterizations. This is a challenging and processor intensive activity but could provide unique safety and situational awareness information for future rendezvous vehicles. <\/p>\n<h4><strong>LIDAR\/Optical\/Radar Project<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>A previous summer student team explored LIDAR, optical and mini-radar\/range information and the challenge of fusing disparate data sets to create 3-dimensional point clouds that represented a prototype satellite. Depicture in picture 1 is the model they used and picture 2 is the optical point cloud resulting from it that was generated (showing different angles of view).\u00a0 While successful in single modalities, trying to geolocate and fuse in inertial space (X, Y and Z) every point from one sensor to another is challenging.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/09\/Satmodel-288x300.jpg\" alt=\"LIDAR sensor device model taking measurements\" width=\"288\" height=\"300\" \/>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isi.edu\/centers-serc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2022\/09\/SatModelPointCloud-300x74.png\" alt=\"optical point cloud\" width=\"519\" height=\"128\" \/><\/p>\n<h4><strong>Debris Signature Creation<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>A current project with a visiting scholar from Japan is investigating the ability to create a unique &#8220;signature&#8221; for a non contiguous object in space (i.e. debris) by using multiple modality sensors and then &#8220;fusing&#8221; that information.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The SERC is working on several different modalities, techniques and areas that focus on the general area of rendezvous and proximity operations or RPO.\u00a0 RPO is typically associated with the ability or operation of two (or more) independent space objects that purposefully manuever to within close &#8220;proximity&#8221; of each other, via various rendezvous techniques.\u00a0 RPO&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":421,"featured_media":0,"parent":592,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"tpl-full-width.php","meta":{"news_source":"","news_author":"","external_news_link":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-96","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>Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO) - 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\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO) - Space Engineering Research Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The SERC is working on several different modalities, techniques and areas that focus on the general area of rendezvous and proximity operations or RPO.\u00a0 RPO is typically associated with the ability or operation of two (or more) independent space objects that purposefully manuever to within close &#8220;proximity&#8221; 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