The Servicing Aid Tool

The Servicing Aid Tool (SAT) is a teleoperated manipulation system designed for use on the NSTS Orbiter. The system will assist EVA servicing of spacecraft such as the Hubble Space Telescope and Explorer platform. SAT components are spaceflight adaptations of existing ground-based designs from Robotics Research and Schilling Development. Fairchild Space is providing the control electronics, safety system, and flight integration. The manipulator consists of a 6-DOF Slave Arm mounted on a 1-DOF Positioning Link in the Payload Bay. The Slave Arm is controlled via a highly similar, 6-DOF, force-reflecting Master Arm. Each slave arm joint receives position commands from the corresponding master arm joint; torque commands are reflected to each master joint based on the current state of the slave joint and the master/slave relationship. Scaled and indexed control will be accommodated, as will various features to ensure safe operation. The paper will focus on the development of the safety system, and operations for the demonstration and servicing missions.