AUTONOMOUS RPOD TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES FOR THE COMING DECADE

摘要

Rendezvous Proximity Operations and Docking (RPOD) technologies are importantto a wide range of future space endeavors. This paper will review someof the recent and ongoing activities related to autonomous RPOD capabilitiesand summarize the current state of the art. Gaps are identified where future investmentsare necessary to successfully execute some of the missions likely tobe conducted within the next ten years. A proposed RPOD technologyroadmap that meets the broad needs of NASA's future missions will be outlined,and ongoing activities at GSFC in support of a future satellite servicingmission are presented. The case presented shows that an evolutionary,stair-step technology development program, including a robust campaign of coordinatedground tests and space-based system-level technology demonstrationmissions, will ultimately yield a multi-use mainstream autonomous RPOD capabilitysuite with cross-cutting benefits across a wide range of future applications.