Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EROSSplus (European Robotic Orbital Support Services +)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2021-02-01 do 2023-01-31
EROSS+’ (European Robotic Orbital Support Services +) objective was to design the future on-orbit servicing and assembly demonstration mission that will address the future space ecosystem, both in terms of technical capabilities and market expectations. The goal is to build an European solution for Servicers and the future serviced LEO/GEO satellites leveraging on key robotic technologies developed in the past years thanks to the European Commission H2020 Strategic Research Cluster (SRC), the European Space Agency and national agencies' initiatives.
This project has gathered key players (6 Partners in 6 European countries) who will shape the Future Space Ecosystems and fostered European competitiveness into this global shifting paradigm that space economy is facing: EROSS+ brings in a concept of a demonstration mission that will cover the full rendezvous phase of a collaborative and prepared client satellite then the capture of the client and the servicing operations (refuelling, payload exchange, repair). It is also a stepping stone towards in-orbit assembly: the demonstration mission will validate the capabilities to perform all the future on orbit operations.
EROSS+ embeds key European technologies from sensors, actuators to software frameworks and algorithms. Those building blocks reached through the project TRLs between 4 and 5 for space applications. This allowed to increase their functionalities and performances in a consistent work programme that targets the demonstration of the developed solutions in space for 2026. EROSS+ mission will pave the way for the future of commercial and institutional European space robotic missions. This Mission Study (phases 0/A/B1), has validated previous developments of the SRC, achieved through I3DS and integrated within EROSS.
With EROSS+, EU, with the support of Thales Alenia Space, follows its plan to achieve a multi-purpose servicer demonstration for the short term servicing business up to long term horizons.
This project has gathered key players (6 Partners in 6 European countries) who will shape the Future Space Ecosystems and fostered European competitiveness into this global shifting paradigm that space economy is facing: EROSS+ brings in a concept of a demonstration mission that will cover the full rendezvous phase of a collaborative and prepared client satellite then the capture of the client and the servicing operations (refuelling, payload exchange, repair). It is also a stepping stone towards in-orbit assembly: the demonstration mission will validate the capabilities to perform all the future on orbit operations.
EROSS+ embeds key European technologies from sensors, actuators to software frameworks and algorithms. Those building blocks reached through the project TRLs between 4 and 5 for space applications. This allowed to increase their functionalities and performances in a consistent work programme that targets the demonstration of the developed solutions in space for 2026. EROSS+ mission will pave the way for the future of commercial and institutional European space robotic missions. This Mission Study (phases 0/A/B1), has validated previous developments of the SRC, achieved through I3DS and integrated within EROSS.
With EROSS+, EU, with the support of Thales Alenia Space, follows its plan to achieve a multi-purpose servicer demonstration for the short term servicing business up to long term horizons.
The project has lasted 24 months during which two main activities have been led :
- development of rendezvous and robotic technologies, with the necessary level of autonomy
- definition of an in-orbit demonstration mission (phases A and B1 : preliminary design).
Although the project inherits technology developments, it has been decided to investigate the accessible market in order to define the in-orbit demonstration mission that will be most relevant to allow the creation of new business. This analysis has allowed to identify the potential market for On-Orbit Servicing, in Geostationary, Medium and Low Earth Orbits, together of the operations of interest depending on the customer : inspection, station keeping and attitude control takeover, refuelling, change or addition of payload. The capabilities enabled by the same technologies have also been identified for the Future Space Ecosystem: the demonstrated technologies will allow Europe to propose solutions for upgrade, assembly, manufacturing, and repair in space.
The proposed demonstration mission is therefore a condensed version of what has been considered relevant in the market analysis. It is illustrated in the video accessible at the following link : https://youtu.be/T1mY5OhmTt8. It will demonstrate:
- inspection and surveillance
- satellite lifespan extension by station keeping and refuelling
- change of orbit
- robotic manipulation
- end of life removal
The phase A/B1 activities have allowed to define the high level mission requirements and to identify the consortium of European partners that will be able to bring all the necessary technologies to the relevant maturity level to ensure the launch of the demonstration in 2026.
On the other hand, the project was dedicated to the maturation of several key technologies that had been earlier identified:
- robotic arm and gripper
- robotic visual servoing
- image processing for rendezvous
- guidance, navigation and control for rendezvous
- autonomy management
- software integration
Those technologies have been brought to TRL up to 5 in the project, and have been demonstrated in two dedicated phases at two different facilities:
- demonstration of the rendezvous aspects developed byTASF and GMV on the PlatformArt(r) facility in GMV
- demonstration of the robotic aspects developed by DLR, PIAP Space, TASI and SINTEF at the DLR facility.
The exploitation of the abovementoioned results will be done in the frame of the EROSS IOD project that has been awarded to an extended European Consortium in view of implementing the in-orbit pathfinder mission.
- development of rendezvous and robotic technologies, with the necessary level of autonomy
- definition of an in-orbit demonstration mission (phases A and B1 : preliminary design).
Although the project inherits technology developments, it has been decided to investigate the accessible market in order to define the in-orbit demonstration mission that will be most relevant to allow the creation of new business. This analysis has allowed to identify the potential market for On-Orbit Servicing, in Geostationary, Medium and Low Earth Orbits, together of the operations of interest depending on the customer : inspection, station keeping and attitude control takeover, refuelling, change or addition of payload. The capabilities enabled by the same technologies have also been identified for the Future Space Ecosystem: the demonstrated technologies will allow Europe to propose solutions for upgrade, assembly, manufacturing, and repair in space.
The proposed demonstration mission is therefore a condensed version of what has been considered relevant in the market analysis. It is illustrated in the video accessible at the following link : https://youtu.be/T1mY5OhmTt8. It will demonstrate:
- inspection and surveillance
- satellite lifespan extension by station keeping and refuelling
- change of orbit
- robotic manipulation
- end of life removal
The phase A/B1 activities have allowed to define the high level mission requirements and to identify the consortium of European partners that will be able to bring all the necessary technologies to the relevant maturity level to ensure the launch of the demonstration in 2026.
On the other hand, the project was dedicated to the maturation of several key technologies that had been earlier identified:
- robotic arm and gripper
- robotic visual servoing
- image processing for rendezvous
- guidance, navigation and control for rendezvous
- autonomy management
- software integration
Those technologies have been brought to TRL up to 5 in the project, and have been demonstrated in two dedicated phases at two different facilities:
- demonstration of the rendezvous aspects developed byTASF and GMV on the PlatformArt(r) facility in GMV
- demonstration of the robotic aspects developed by DLR, PIAP Space, TASI and SINTEF at the DLR facility.
The exploitation of the abovementoioned results will be done in the frame of the EROSS IOD project that has been awarded to an extended European Consortium in view of implementing the in-orbit pathfinder mission.
In the project, the following technologies have been matured:
- Servicing Control Unit was brought from TRL 4 to 5
- I3DS equipment layer software was brought from TRL 4 to 5
- platform GNC algorithms were brought from TRL 4 to 5
- robotic gripper was brought from TRL 3 to 5
- robotic visual servoing was brought from TRL 4 to 5
- robotic autonomy software was brought from TRL 4 to 5
The results obtained at the end of the project are the following:
- definition of the demonstration mission
- key technologies maturation and way forward
- demonstration of commercial applicability for on-orbit servicing (OOS)
- securization of European independence
The impact foreseen for the project is first the unlocking of the demonstration mission via the successor of the project, and the exploitation of the developed technologies for other applications in space, towards On-Orbit Servicing commercial applications, Future Space Ecosystem implementation, and Space Exploration purposes.
- Servicing Control Unit was brought from TRL 4 to 5
- I3DS equipment layer software was brought from TRL 4 to 5
- platform GNC algorithms were brought from TRL 4 to 5
- robotic gripper was brought from TRL 3 to 5
- robotic visual servoing was brought from TRL 4 to 5
- robotic autonomy software was brought from TRL 4 to 5
The results obtained at the end of the project are the following:
- definition of the demonstration mission
- key technologies maturation and way forward
- demonstration of commercial applicability for on-orbit servicing (OOS)
- securization of European independence
The impact foreseen for the project is first the unlocking of the demonstration mission via the successor of the project, and the exploitation of the developed technologies for other applications in space, towards On-Orbit Servicing commercial applications, Future Space Ecosystem implementation, and Space Exploration purposes.