TESTING FACILITY FOR AUTONOMOUS ROBOTICS AND GNC SYSTEMS AT WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY

West Virginia University (WVU) is home to the West Virginia Robotic Technology Center (WVRTC) a state-of-the-art testing facility for space robotics and spacecraft guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) systems. The facility was established in 2009 to support the development of technologies for satellite servicing for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and is now expanding to address a wider range of issues related to spacecraft GNC. The WVRTC is located in a secure building outside of WVU's main campus and is staffed by full-time research engineers. In its present configuration, the facility consists of a number of test areas. First is a 16.4 x 6.7 m air bearing table equipped with a fully-functional robotic Grapple Arm, a full-scale mock-up of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), and a mock-up of a generic robotic spacecraft which represents a depot or operational site of interest for an astronaut crew. The Grapple Arm was flight qualified for the Hubble Robotic Servicing and De-orbit Mission (HRSDM) and its design is based on the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (SRMS). Second is a multi-robot workstation designed for testing close-range GNC algorithms, spacecraft autonomous rendezvous and capture (AR&C) technologies, contact dynamics, and assistive sensor systems for autonomous and teleoperated procedures. This workstation consists of five robotic manipulators that may be equipped with satellite mock-ups, advanced end effector systems, and/or GNC sensors. The set-up also contains a high-fidelity satellite mock-up mounted on a motion-based platform that has been modified to include force/torque sensors, thus allowing real-time simulation of satellite contact and grappling dynamics.