Visual images are effective tools for monitoring the condition of spacecraft. In this article, we developed a low-cost, low impact, compact visual monitoring system using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) devices to perform critical situation monitoring of the Hayabusa2 touchdown mission. The in situ performance of all devices for the touchdown mission, such as the field programmable gate array, complementary metal oxide semiconductor image sensor, analog decoder, and first-in-first-out memory, was examined in terms of the image capturing time and the tuning of image sensors. The in situ image capturing results indicated that these devices can be successfully used in deep space applications. Our findings can provide a reference for the use of COTS devices in deep space applications.

A highly intelligent visual guidance navigation system that can autonomously identify target space debris and realize a controlled rendezvous maneuver is required to mitigate space debris. In this study, such a system is developed by integrating autonomous control software technologies and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) devices. The orbital performance of the COTS-based intelligent camera system of the end-of-life services is demonstrated during an Astroscale-demonstration mission, a technology demonstration mission for satellite end-of-life services. For this mission, Astroscale collaborated with the Tokyo University of Science to develop a visual guidance and navigation system for space debris Removal. In this regard, this paper reports the design and performance of a COTS-based intelligent camera system for space debris Removal.

Many missions have been launched to explore the Moon, Mars, asteroids, and comets, and many researchers are studying and developing lunar and planetary rovers for unmanned planet exploration, and further cooperative missions targeting human lunar exploration are under discussion. A key technology in these missions and orbital services is space robotics, including Al and automation. Space robotics is expected to support external vehicular activities (EVA) and internal vehicular activities (IVA), which will include constructing, repairing, and maintaining orbiting satellites and space structures. This special issue presents the updated mission results and advanced research activities of space organizations, institutes, and universities, although it does not include all. We hope that this special issue will be useful to readers as an introduction to advanced space robotics in Japan, and that more robotics and Al researchers and engineers will become interested in space robotics and participate in space missions. We thank the authors for their fine contributions and the reviewers for their generous contributions of time and effort. In closing, we also thank the Editorial Board of the Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics for helping to make this issue possible.

The utilization of space for human activities has increased steadily over the past several decades. In parallel, space debris has also grown at an alarming rate, posing risks to space missions and establishing debris removal as an aspiration in the current space industry. These objects can orbit at arbitrary rotational speeds in different planes. In this paper, a model predictive control-based algorithm is developed for a target-chaser rendezvous situation to optimize fuel consumption while considering thruster constraints and memory usage. A performance comparison is conducted with several conventional controllers to validate the effectiveness of the algorithm using computer simulations.

This paper describes a contact control method for safely capturing space debris by free-flying robots. Impedance control by multiple point contact (in this paper, using a 2-point contact end effector) can finally move in unison while suppressing the rotational motion of the object. The proposed mechanism converts rotational motion into translational motion and shows that the robot arm can suppress their motion, together with the result of the dynamic simulation.

Recently, problems involving space debris have become more serious. According to NASA research, the volume of space debris is projected to increase, even if no new satellites are launched. Therefore, debris-removal satellites must be developed immediately. A mandatory function of a debris-removal satellite is to recognize and approach target debris. Thus, visual guidance using image processing is being considered as an effective means of guiding debris-removal satellites toward unresponsive targets. A small satellite is suitable for use as a debris-removal satellite; however, because of weight and/or size limitations, the installation of certain cameras in small satellites is difficult. Thus, we have developed a compact camera system that can perform on-board image processing, by expanding the functionality of an existing camera system to enable it to acquire the multi-direction images required during the satellite-debris rendezvous process. Experiments were conducted using our proposed system on the H-2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV) as part of an electrodynamic-tether experiment. This paper presents a brief report on the results of this HTV flight experiment.

An asteroid exploration probe “Hayabusa2”, that was developed by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), was launched on December 3rd, 2014 to challenge complicated and accurate operations during the mission phase around the C-type asteroid 162137 Ryugu (1999 JU3) (Tsuda et al. in Acta Astron. 91:356–362, 2013). An impact experiment on a surface of the asteroid will be conducted using the Small Carry-on Impactor (SCI) system, which will be the world’s first artificial crater creation experiment on asteroids (Saiki et al. in Proc. International Astronautical Congress, IAC-12.A3.4.8, 2012, Acta Astron. 84:227–236, 2013a; Proc. International Symposium on Space Technology and Science, 2013b). We developed a new micro Deployable CAMera (DCAM3) system for remote observations of the impact phenomenon applying our conventional DCAM technology that is one of the smallest probes in space missions and gained a great success in past Japanese mission IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun). DCAM3 is a miniaturized separable unit that contains two cameras and radio communication devices for transmission image data to the mothership “Hayabusa2”, and it observes the impact experiment at an unsafe region in where the “Hayabusa2” is difficult to stay because of a risk of exploding and impacting debris hitting. In this paper, we report details of the DCAM3 system and development results as well as our mission plan for the DCAM3 observation during the SCI experiment.

Recently, according to the progress of space development, space debris such as used satellites or parts of rockets are rapidly increasing in orbit. Therefore, system to maintain the satellite orbit condition is important for safe and sustainable space utilization. Orbital Maintenance System (OMS) is a concept of satellite system to maintain orbit condition by serving inspection, repair, and removal of failed satellites. Because OMS is expected to control non-cooperative space debris, analysis and control of contact dynamics with non-cooperative target are one of the key technologies to realize OMS. Especially, it is essentially important to establish technologies to capture rotating objects under microgravity condition because many space debris are generally tumbling in orbit. This paper proposes an estimation method of rotational motion using depth image sensor. Effectiveness of the method is qualified using a floating and rotating robot in two-dimensional micro-gravity condition.

In satellites, onboard software is required to perform complicated mission sequences and autonomous scheduling, conduct preliminary data processing, and manage various onboard devices. The dependability of onboard software strongly affects the reliability of a satellite itself. Therefore, the onboard software must be both complex and reliable to perform complicated small satellite missions. We propose an automatic software generator to meet these requirements. This generates onboard software and a database for the ground operating system using satellite development documents, such as command and telemetry definition documents and fault detection, isolation, and recovery (FDIR) definition documents. By using this software generator, the software development load can be reduced and human error can be avoided, even if the definitions are modified in an ad hoc manner during the development process. The generator additionally enables the easy accommodation of user preferences and software depth variation during a mission.

Due to advances in mission complexity and increased requirements for autonomous control of small satellites, high-level computing performance of on-board computers, as well as the necessary software implementation to maintain essential functionality, is more frequently required for small satellites. To satisfy these requirements, we developed a high-performance and compact on-board computer for micro and nano-satellites using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components including a structure to increase the reliability by sharing software to enhance reusability. The capability of small satellites can be dramatically improved by having common standards for high computing performance and a low-cost platform for the on-board computers. Additionally, the mission potential of small satellites can then be expanded. When the same platform is utilized recursively, the reliability of the platform will increase through repeated verification. In this paper, we describe the concept of a high-performance, low-cost on-board computer system using COTS devices, the sharing of software resources, and a practical on-orbit evaluation of the system.

This work describes in-orbit results of the Earth-observation missions of the microsatellites Hodoyoshi-3 and Hodoyoshi-4. These satellites were successfully launched from Russia by the Dnepr launch vehicle on June 19, 2014. Hodoyoshi-3 has observation devices that consist of a medium-resolution camera and a low-resolution one. Hodoyoshi-4 is equipped with a high-resolution multispectral camera that has a push-broom imaging sensor with a ground sampling distance of 6.3 m. The initial observations by Hodoyoshi-3 and -4 were successfully achieved. All cameras are regularly providing Earth-observation images. Due to limitations with the satellite attitude-determination system, geometric correction of the acquired images is carried out by registration to other satellite images. Hodoyoshi-3 and -4 can provide various Earth-observation results that consist of low-, medium-, and high-resolution images. These images are useful for disaster monitoring, vegetation monitoring, agriculture, and forest management.

With the progress of space development, space satellites have provided a lot of benefits such as weather forecast and global positioning system (GPS), which are essential for modern society. On the other hand, space debris such as defunct satellites have increased on orbit in recent years. As a result, in late years a problem of the space debris worsens. Orbital Maintenance System (OMS) is suggested to reduce the number of space debris. An analysis of contact dynamics is a key technology for capturing space debris in OMS. This paper suggests two points contact end-effecter to restrain for tumbling and translation debris. And this paper conducted collision experiments on two-dimensional micro-gravity environment. This paper shows two contact dynamics simulation in two-dimensional micro-gravity environment on the basis of the experimental result, and effectiveness of two point contact end-effecter.

Chapter 36 Optical Space Equipments Using Commercial Off-the-Shelf Devices Shinichi Kimura, Shinichi KimuraSearch for more papers by this authorTomohiro Narumi, Tomohiro NarumiSearch for more papers by this authorYoshihide Aoyanagi, Yoshihide AoyanagiSearch for more papers by this authorShinichi Nakasuka, Shinichi NakasukaSearch for more papers by this author Shinichi Kimura, Shinichi KimuraSearch for more papers by this authorTomohiro Narumi, Tomohiro NarumiSearch for more papers by this authorYoshihide Aoyanagi, Yoshihide AoyanagiSearch for more papers by this authorShinichi Nakasuka, Shinichi NakasukaSearch for more papers by this author Book Editor(s):Shen-En Qian, Shen-En Qian Canadian Space Agency, CanadaSearch for more papers by this author First published: 20 November 2015 https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118945179.ch36Citations: 1 AboutPDFPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShareShare a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Summary Optical equipments play an important role in spacecraft technology. A key issue in considering the utilization of optical equipments in space is the cost of the space system. In general, space-based equipments require high cost and large size areas. Once satellites are launched it is difficult to repair them, therefore space-based equipments need to be designed to be very reliable which incurs high costs. Moreover, there is a tendency to avoid new devices in designing space-based equipments, as a result many devices are outdated and perform poorly. Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) devices are preferable due to their low cost, small size, ease of use, and high-quality performance. In this chapter, the possibility of the utilization of COTS devices as optical equipment for space-based architecture is discussed. Citing Literature Optical Payloads for Space Missions RelatedInformation