Space Robotics and its Challenges

Space robotics is a fascinating field that was developed for space explorations and space missions. Human participation in space exploration has its limits that are related to human physical endurance. Long duration of flights and missions together with hostile environment in space limits human involvement. Unmanned and autonomous missions coupled with mission automation became necessary for successful exploration. This chapter reviews types of robots used in space, their main design features and possible applications. Brief review of space manipulators and space robots is presented and discussed.