Ground testing is required to ensure that robotic systems will operate properly in the orbitalOrbital \ienvironmentEnvironment \b or on the surface of other planets, asteroids or comets with microgravity. Air-bearing microgravity simulators allow to emulate the dynamic behaviour of the satellite or the satellite-manipulator system operating in zero-g conditions. This chapter presents key functionalities and design parameters of planar and spherical air-bearing microgravity simulators. Applications of such simulators include, i.a., testing of manipulator hardware for on-orbit operations, trajectory planningPlanning \b and control of satellite-manipulator systems, demonstration of capture with a manipulator, close proximity operations and formation flight experiments. Various possible applications are reviewed and an example design of a low-cost, spherical air-bearing satellite simulator is presented. The chapter also outlines future directions of possible research and open issues.


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    Title :

    Air-Bearing Microgravity Simulators for Space Robotics


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Space Robotics ; Chapter : 8 ; 157-190


    Publication date :

    2024-12-12


    Size :

    34 pages




    Type of media :

    Article/Chapter (Book)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English