Autonomous Robotic Capture

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), in partnership with West Virginia University and Yaskawa America, Inc., is conducting robotic contact dynamics evaluations in a near-zero gravity environment on an airplane. Knowledge gained during these flights is being used to mature autonomous capture algorithms and to enhance the accuracy of a simulation platform at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. This platform is used to support the development and validation of technologies required for the autonomous capture and servicing of satellites in geosynchronous and low Earth orbit, and potentially the capture/disposal of large orbital debris, among other missions. These technologies could also support the Near Earth Asteroid Robotic Precursor mission and the Near Earth Asteroid Human mission. The experiment will help answer some of the technical challenges identified in NASA’s Office of the Chief Technologist’s Robotics, Tele-Robotics, and Autonomous Systems Roadmap. More »