On ground validation of debris removal technologies

The goal of the activity On-ground Validation of Debris Removal Technologies, ORCO, has been to investigate and mature the complex couplings between the different control systems (GNC including image processing and robotics) for autonomous rigid capture between an active chaser vehicle and a cooperative/non-cooperative target, and derive the required algorithms and perform a HW-in-the-loop end-to-end demonstration. The prototyped solution is tested in the most realistic conditions obtainable on ground, including also the dynamics of the system as well as the relative visual based navigation system. The on-ground validation and integration is performed taking advantage of the GMV platform-art© dynamic test facility located in Madrid, Spain, with the addition of the hardware provided by the partners: robotic system from CBK (Poland) and visual system from TSD (Italy).