AUTONOMOUS RPOD TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES FOR THE COMING DECADE

摘要

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