#Industry News
DANISH ASTRONAUT TO CONTROL EARTHBOUND ROVER FROM SPACE
First-of-a-Kind Test Will Improve Astronaut Capabilities
Next week, Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen will attempt a Space first by controlling an earthbound rover using force-feedback controls while he orbits the globe aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The experiment is scheduled to take place on September 7, with the Interact Centaur rover being based at the European Space Agency’s ESTEC technical centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. The rover is a 4×4 mobile platform that features an articulated camera stalk, proximity and localization sensors, and two robotic arms for precision tasks. To provide the remote operator with force feedback, the rover is equipped with laser guidance and haptic controls, and this will allow Mogensen to perform precise tasks at the sub-millimeter range.
The experiment will involve accomplishing several tasks, first the robot will be used to find an “operations task board” on the ground, then the robotic arms will gather up a metal pin and plug it into the board. Although, the ISS only orbits at an altitude of of 250 miles (400 km), the satellite relays will actually increase that distance to an equivalent of 50,000 miles (90,000 km). Which means Mogensen will be faced with a slight time lag as he carries out his task. The ESA is looking to transfer tactile skills we humans take for granted to remotely-controllable robotic systems in order to develop a better way to operate these systems in space.
According to ESA telerobotics specialist André Schiele, “When we humans have to perform precision operations, for instance simply inserting our key into the lock of our door, we are relying largely on our feeling of tactile and force receptors in the hand and arms – not on eyesight.” The knowledge gathered from this experiment will go on to inform future operations, and could also one day allow surgeons on earth to operate on astronauts aboard the ISS, in a similar way the Melody system is currently used.
