Computer Vision Systems For Robotic Servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope

2007 
Following the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia, NASA initiated the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Robotic Servicing (RS) and De-orbit Mission to perform selected functions originally planned for Space Shuttle Orbiter-based servicing and to provide a safe and controlled reentry capability for HST at the end of its mission. MDA was contracted to design and build the robotics portion of this mission with the two following goals: (1) the autonomous capture and berthing of the HST; (2) the repair/upgrade of key elements onboard the telescope. Key enablers of the mission would be two computer vision systems, one that would allow autonomous capture of the free-flying HST and another that could perform supervised object recognition and pose estimation of objects to within 2mm and 2 degrees for HST worksite Registration. Although the flight program was ultimately descoped, MDA continued to develop these key enabling technologies. This document details the development, build and successful demonstration of the vision system for Autonomous Grapple Arm Capture of HST, and the Object Recognition and Pose Estimation vision system for Supervised Autonomous Dexterous Robot Servicing of the HST.
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