1998 Volume 14 Issue 2 Pages 2_3-2_8
There are many tasks to be conducted in space such as building and operation of the international space station, inspection and repair of orbiting satellites, and conducting lunar/planetary explorations. Astronauts currently conduct some of these tasks. However most of these tasks are highly risky and expensive. Therefore space robot becomes attractive tool to conduct these tasks. However, if an astronaut onboard spacecraft such as the shuttle or the space station operates the robot, utilization of the robot is limited by the limitation of the available hours of the astronauts. Therefore, NASDA started development of the second-generation space robot[1], which is controlled from the ground. NASDA launched an engineering test satellite named ETS-VII on November 28, 1997 to conduct the rendezvous docking and the second-generation space robot technology experiments [2]-[4]. This paper shows an overview of the ETS-VII project and the space robot experiment results gained by ETS-VII.
