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NASA To Test Automated Docking System
Washington, DC Nov. 14, 1997 - 
Washington, DC Nov. 14, 1997 - For the first time in U.S. space history, a system for automated rendezvous and docking without human intervention will be tested in space. Aboard this month's STS-87 Columbia Space Shuttle mission, the space agency will test the Automated Rendezvous and Capture Video Guidance Sensor- which serves, in essence, as the "eyes" of a prototype system.Such a system would allow linking in space of unmanned upper stages or rocket units that require boosters to reach higher orbits, or automated logistics carriers eventually bound for the International Space Station. The test unit uses onboard sensors, computers, and navigation signals along with video cameras to bring together a research spacecraft with the Shuttle. Sensors mounted in the Shuttle cargo bay and on the free-flying Spartan satellite will track reflected laser beams, bounced off of reflectors mounted on the Spartan's exterior. Tracking data will be gathered during testing when the unit is both floating through space nearby as well as stationary, hovering above the bay. The Shuttle robot arm will also be used to hold the Spartan satellite in 16 different positions while the laser reflectors test bouncing the beams back to the collectors. Tests will also be made of the laser system under varying lighting conditions. Eventually, such tests as those planned for the Shuttle flight may lead to an operational laser docking system for the Space Station. Unlike the Russian space program, all dockings conducted by the U.S. since 1966 have been under astronaut control. The Russians have routinely docked spacecraft by using automated systems. In fact, Russian Cosmonauts have less accumulated time in rendezvous and docking than their robot systems in the history of the Russian space programs.
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