In this report we document the development and deployment of an individual hopper intended as a precursor survery mission for planetary exploration.

The DAEDALUS mission concept aims to explore and characterise the entrance and initial part of lunar lava tubes within a compact, tightly integrated spherical robotic device, with a complementary payload set and autonomous capabilities. The mission concept specifically addresses the identification and characterisation of potential resources for future ESA exploration, the local environment of the Moon's subsurface and its geologic and compositional structure.

 This study investigated the semi-autonomous exploration of a lunar skylight cavity.

CRANE is a study commissioned through the OSIP lunar caves Campaign that examined the possiblity of using a crane to investigate lunar caves via lunar pits. The crane would be mounted on a rover that would need to be placed close to the pit.

The d.deorbit CDF study identified the robotic gripper mechanism as a key area of technology development. The gripper, which is attached to the tip of the robotic arm, plays a important role in the satellite capture operation as it provides the mechanical and structural interface between the servicer/chaser vehicle and the target satellite during the critical capture and stabilisation operations. Due to the potentially unknown state of the target satellite, the capture operation must be able to handle both cooperative satellites (i.e.

A major challenge in the field of control is to achieve reliable, aggressive, high-speed control of autonomous vehicles. In space, this may involve spacecraft that need to land under harsh conditions, or even – in an extreme scenario – negotiating asteroid debris fields at high speeds. On Earth, the exemplar task that draws most attention currently is high-speed autonomous flight of drones. The application of optimal control on board limited platforms has been severely hindered by the large computational requirements of current state-of-the-art implementations.

Space probes are subject to memory/communication constraints that make them unable to deliver to scientists on Earth all the data that the probe could collect.

This project was intended to contribute to the implementation of the e-navigation concept (as defined by IMO, Ref. 2.2.6), with primary focus on the navigation in restricted waters, such as harbours, lagoons or regions where the traffic congestion can create conditions for accidents or inefficient operations.

For the past 20 years ESA has invested in the development of robot systems, in support of human spaceflight and exploration. A robot relies heavily on specific software, called robot controller software (RCS)? or robot operating system, that can provide? tight coordination of perception, reasoning and motion functions. In these years several tens of millions of Euros of RD and project budgets have been spent in developing RCS for various purposes. While this has allowed to progress space robot technology and projects, the approach used in the past is not sustainable.

Background and justification: