Abstract

Dynamic Simulation for Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission (ARRM) Capture Restraint System (CRS) Flexible Capture Arms

R. Wagner, NASA Langley Research Center

NASA ARRM is developing a first-ever robotic spacecraft to land on a large near-Earth asteroid capturing a multi-ton boulder from its surface and redirect the boulder into a stable orbit around the moon, where astronauts will probe it and return with its samples in the 2020s. As part of the ARRM, CRS is under development with three robotic arms that are constructed using FEM and imported into ADAMS as superelements for dynamic analysis. ADAMS simulation results are presented that demonstrate design feasibility for crucial load cases, such as descent and ascent. The simulation results consider landing contact, asteroid gravity, and actuator joints used to connect each segment of the robotic arms. An over-damped passive control system for the descent was also investigated with and without damper. In addition, various boulder configurations and arms poses were examined in the ADAMS simulation. It was verified that flexibility of the robotic arms should be considered to obtain reasonable contact duration time, actuator forces, and dynamic behaviour.

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Presentation: Dynamic Simulation for Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission (ARRM) Capture Restraint System (CRS) Flexible Capture Arms