Automatic control of the Skylab Astronaut Maneuvering Research Vehicle

Murtagh, T. B.; Goodwin, Mary Ann; Greenlee, J. E.; Whitsett, C. E.

doi:10.2514/6.1973-857

Cited by 1 publication

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“…1 The Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) is a propulsive backpack that was designed at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) following the M509 tests. This system was widely used during the Space Shuttle era, when there were unprecedented opportunities for astronauts to perform extravehicular activity (EVA) tasks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Next-Generation Maneuvering System with Control-Moment Gyroscopes for Extravehicular Activities Near Low-Gravity Objects

Carpenter

Jackson

Cohanim

et al. 2013

43rd International Conference on Environmental Systems

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Looking ahead to the human exploration of Mars, NASA is planning for exploration of near-Earth asteroids and the Martian moons. Performing tasks near the surface of such lowgravity objects will likely require the use of an updated version of the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) since the surface gravity is not high enough to allow astronauts to walk, or have sufficient resistance to counter reaction forces and torques during movements. The extravehicular activity (EVA) Jetpack device currently under development is based on the Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER) unit and has maneuvering capabilities to assist EVA astronauts with their tasks. This maneuvering unit has gas thrusters for attitude control and translation. When EVA astronauts are performing tasks that require fine motor control such as sample collection and equipment placement, the current control system will fire thrusters to compensate for the resulting changes in center-of-mass location and moments of inertia, adversely affecting task performance. The proposed design of a next-generation maneuvering and stability system incorporates control concepts optimized to support astronaut tasks and adds control-moment gyroscopes (CMGs) to the current Jetpack system. This design aims to reduce fuel consumption, as well as improve task performance for astronauts by providing a stiffer work platform. The high-level control architecture for an EVA maneuvering system using both thrusters and CMGs considers an initial assessment of tasks to be performed by an astronaut and an evaluation of the corresponding human-system dynamics. For a scenario in which the astronaut orbits an asteroid, simulation results from the current EVA maneuvering system are compared to those from a simulation of the same system augmented with CMGs, demonstrating that the forces and torques on an astronaut can be significantly reduced with the new control system actuation while conserving onboard fuel.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%