Space Apps Challenge 2018

ASTRONAUT'S EYE

Introduction

The astronaut's eye project iscreated as a future safety platform to inspect the whole outsidesurface body of the spacecraft particularly designed for long spacejourney to other planets like Mars. The project is to build areliable system to design, operate and control an autonomousfree-flyer working as a surveyor small vehicle to inspect aspacecraft any time during the long journey for damages fromMicro-Meteoroid and Orbital Debris (MMOD). The idea of maintaining(FFAS) the Free-Flyer Autonomous Surveyor in a closed proximityadjacent all the time and with equal speed to inspected spacecraft isinspired from the nature from mammals motion attitude of mother andher baby, as example, the whale mother and her baby noticed all thetime swimming and traveling beside each other.

The Background

Like other industry, the spacescientists and aerospace engineers shall review the lessons learnedfrom the previous space incidents like: Apollo 13 – couldn’t seethe damages, MIR space station damaged by Progress – 24 minutes tofind/plug leak before having to shut the hatch. Columbia –suspected impact to Wing Leading Edge, no sensors or good inspectionoptions. All these because of non availability of enough camerasand reliable surveying technologies to assist and acknowledge thespacecraft crews about the condition of spacecraft outside surfaces. As a result, there are many initiatives have been proposed assolutions to solve this problem by free-flying satellite inspectorslike: AERCam –MEPSI –COSA, AeroCube-4, AeroCube-6, AeroCube-7,Cumulos, etc.

The Problem

In the near future, the manned spacemissions are expected to start because many space agencies eithergovernmental or private companies have already plans to send theircrews not only back to the earth Moon but even to the Mars planet.Therefore, the challenge is to keep the spacecraft and the its crewssafe all the time while travelling long term missions by severalprovisions and safety precautions such as inspecting the outsidesurface of the spacecraft for potential damages from Micrometeoroidand Orbital Debris (MMOD). In addition, it is risky to use theastronauts every time in case there is a doubt of damages on outsidevehicle body not only because of limited mobility of the astronautsto access and see physically all outside surfaces in short time butalso it is not acceptable to expose them to surrounding possiblecosmic radiation during the journey.

The proposed solution

We propose " ASTRONAUT'S EYE "a robust and more reliable system of safety inspection and damagedetection to function as a new technology platform project in orderto overcome the above mentioned problems. The system consists of thefollowing components:

1- The (FFAS) the Free-Flyer Autonomous Surveyor which:

• Has the required surveying andimaging hardware parts such as: LIDAR, Visual Cameras, and wireless(Wi-Fi) connections;
• a 3D sensors and (3-axis)Reaction wheels to keep and control its flight position attitude;
• a rechargeable Battery tosupply the power to the parts;
• Dampers to absorb the possiblevibrations during the dynamic operations;
• The (FFAS) frame body materialsto be from (CFRP) carbon fiber reinforced plastics;
• The (FFAS) unlike othercompetition projects, it does not contain solar cells because it isdesigned to be in a close proximity to the spacecraft and tofunction on a short period while the surveying process (less than 10minutes); and
• The (FFAS) unlike othercompetition projects, it does not need a thruster or additional coldpropulsion nozzles because it is anchored firmly by a connectedstring in its operating position and therefore its attitude ismaintained

2- The (THRESHOLD-BAY) located atthe middle of spacecraft and contains the following parts:

• a (STRING) used to connectbetween the (FFAS) surveyor vehicle and the (THRESHOLD-BAY);
• a (SHOOTER) mechanism to shootand release the (STRING) out board from the (THRESHOLD-BAY). TheSTRING length is proposed to be between (50 m - 70 m);
• a (GRABBER) mechanism to graband hold the (FFAS) surveyor vehicle during the deploymentoperation;
• a (DAMPER) set to be placedbetween the (STRING) and (FFAS) surveyor vehicle, and between the(STRING) and (THRESHOLD-BAY); and
• an Electric connectingmechanism to recharge the battery of the (FFAS) surveyor vehicle

3- An interface screen andapplication

to acknowledge the astronauts on real-time about thesurveying status and any detected damages on the outside surfaces ofthe spacecraft. The system processor shall include an artificialintelligence (AI) capability to do images processing and analyzingthe data collected such as damages type, location, size, autonomoussurveying modes to be selected by the system depending of the manyfactors: for example, light sources/shadows, surface reflections,view angles, and other cosmic conditions. The astronauts can schedulethe frequency of the surveying and times where the system shallcomplete the task and provide the feedback.

4- As part of quality assurance

inoperating the (astronaut's eye System), it is highly important totrain the astronauts about the system processes and the sequence ofprocesses in accordance with (SOP's) standard operation procedures.There are two basic processes shall be executed about the spacecraftattitude and control which are:

• Shutting down the spacecraftrocket engine before releasing the (FFAS) surveyor vehicle. Thereason, is to prevent the acceleration of the spacecraft, thus, tomaintain an equal speed of the spacecraft and the (FFAS) surveyorvehicle; and
• Control Moment Gyroscope (CMG)located in the spacecraft body shall be used to change theorientation and the attitude of the spacecraft to enable the(FFAS)surveyor vehicle for screening and imaging

Potential users

All space agencies eithergovernmental or private companies who will plan for future mannedlong journey cosmic missions, for example, from earth to the earthmoon, from earth to Mars Planet, and from any planet to anotherplanet. As a new emerging safety reliable system, it will support thefuture space industry by building-up a more safe missions.

The obstacles & challenges

Like every emerging new technology,and because the project in the first phase, there are some obstaclesand challenges should be consider in the near future to leverage theproject into a more reliable product. These obstacles are brieflylisted below:

• The "STRING"representing the core important member of the system and itsmechanical characteristics like tensile strength shall beexperimentally tested using the best reliable materials.
• The "DAMPER"mechanism shall be experimentally tested for different conditions toconfirm the optimum design. The dampening of potential vibrationsunder several loads shall be tested as well.
• The "GRABBER"mechanism shall be tested by a simulation software to understand itsfunction under several cases. Particularly, effectiveness of theGRABBER arms shall be evaluated to accept high tolerance of errorsin case the "FFAS" shifted from its original position. TheGRABBER shall include attached sensors to correct its shape, forexample, by expanding its size to be suitable for such cases.

Conclusion

We are very confident that ourproject The "astronaut'seye" will satisfy the expectations of space agencies tosolve the safety problems to inspect the whole outside surface bodyof the spacecraft against damages from Micro-Meteoroid and OrbitalDebris (MMOD). It is especially created for long cosmic journey notonly to earth moon but even perfect to satisfy the astronautsinspecting needs to other planets like Mars. We are very exciting ofthis innovative project as a reliable system to design, operate andcontrol an autonomous free-flyer working as a surveyor small vehicleto inspect a spacecraft. Finally, the solution is proposed from thebeginning for specific goals: low cost, reliability, adaptability,and versatility.

References

https://www.nasa.gov/offices/nesc/workshops/index....

https://www.asnt.org/isiw

https://www.grc.nasa.gov/vine/