We anticipate that there are also applications beyond NASA, particularly in the military and commercial sectors. For example, the capture mechanism design may have applications such as the capture and control of space debris in Earth Orbit threatening strategic and/or commercial assets within similar orbits. Such a mechanism, when used in conjunction with a debris tracking and control system, could approach and capture such debris and then maneuver the captured material either to a different orbit, or, if in LEO, to a reentry trajectory to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.
The primary application for the Capture Mechanism and SPHERES/ISS test strategy is in support of the NASA Mars Sample Return mission. A successful Phase1/Phase 2 project would result in a system design ready for implementation, integration, test and deployment with the MSR mission. While designed for MSR, the capture mechanism design and risk-mitigation test approach has applications for additional NASA sample-return missions, such icy-moons. Additionally, a successful demonstration of the cost-effective use of the ISS as a system checkout and launch platform has significant benefits to NASA in reducing the cost and risk of testing small systems in LEO.
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