Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: In Earth orbit, there is little atmospheric absorption in the millimeter wave band. So, there is suitable for the astronomical observation and solar power generation. HALCA is the world first VLBI satellite launched on 1997. It is a radio telescope satellite which has a 8m diameter mesh deployable reflector, and carried out remarkable activity in observation by the 5GHz frequency band. In order to observe the still more detailed structure of object, observation by the still higher frequency band is expected. In order to catch the radio wave from a deep space and to perform observations to a high resolution and with a high signal / noise ratio, a reflector with a large aperture and high surface accuracy is needed. However, payloads launched to an orbit are restricted by the diameter of a rocket fairing, which is about 4m diameter at the maximum. Structures larger than this must be either deployable or assembled in orbit. As the diameter of a complex deployable structure increases, its figure accuracy generally decreases, since, for instance, a greater number of hinges may be required. For this reason, the authors are studying a structure which can be assembled using space robots. Since a robot arm will be in the closed link state where both ends were fixed during assembling task, it position error correction by compliant motion is required. On-orbit assembly is analyzed, and this paper describes a suitable design for a space robot arm intended to carry out this task.
Author: Shin-Ichiro NISHIDA
Institution: Tottori University
Language: English
Subfield: Aerospace Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2672391661