The Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) is a
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
technology demonstration mission with equipment launches in both 2011 and 2013 to increase the technological maturity of
in-space rocket propellant
Rocket propellant is the reaction mass of a rocket. This reaction mass is ejected at the highest achievable velocity from a rocket engine
A rocket engine uses stored rocket propellants as the reaction mass for forming a high-speed propuls ...
transfer
Transfer may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović
* ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film
* ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies
...
technology by testing a wide variety of potential propellant transfer hardware, of both new and existing
satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...
designs.
The first phase of the mission was successfully completed in 2013. The second phase experiments continued in 2015. The third phase ~2018 suffered a cryocooler failure in 2019 and loss of methane.
History
Development
The Robotic Refueling Mission was developed by the Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office at the
Goddard Space Flight Center
The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...
(GSFC).
[
]
It was planned to demonstrate the technology and tools to
refuel satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...
s in orbit by robotic means.
[
] After the proof of concept, the long-term goal of NASA is to transfer the technology to the commercial sector.
[
]
Technology demonstration
Phase 1
RRM was designed with four tools, each with electronics and two cameras and lights. Additionally, it had pumps and controllers and electrical systems such as electrical valves and sensors.[
]
The RRM payload was transported to the Kennedy Space Center
The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...
in early March 2011, where the GSFC team performed the final preparations for space flight.
Once up on the International Space Station, RRM was planned to be installed into the ELC-4. The Dextre
Dextre, also known as the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM), is a two armed robot, or telemanipulator, which is part of the Mobile Servicing System on the International Space Station (ISS), and does repairs that would otherwise r ...
robot was planned to be used in 2012 and 2013 during the refueling demonstration experiments.[
]
The RRM phase 1 experiment platform was launched to the International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...
(ISS) on 8 July 2011, transported by Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...
''Atlantis
Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas (mythology), Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus (dialogue), Timaeus'' and ''Critias (dialogue), Critias'' ...
'' on STS-135
STS-135 ( ISS assembly flight ULF7) was the 135th and final mission of the American Space Shuttle program. It used the orbiter ''Atlantis'' and hardware originally processed for the STS-335 contingency mission, which was not flown. STS-135 la ...
, the 135th and final flight mission of the American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
Space Shuttle program.
The experiment suite included a number of propellant
A propellant (or propellent) is a mass that is expelled or expanded in such a way as to create a thrust or other motive force in accordance with Newton's third law of motion, and "propel" a vehicle, projectile, or fluid payload. In vehicles, the e ...
valve
A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...
s, nozzle
A nozzle is a device designed to control the direction or characteristics of a fluid flow (specially to increase velocity) as it exits (or enters) an enclosed chamber or pipe.
A nozzle is often a pipe or tube of varying cross sectional area, a ...
s and seals
Seals may refer to:
* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly:
** Earless seal, or "true seal"
** Fur seal
* Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...
similar to those used on a wide variety of commercial
Commercial may refer to:
* a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television)
** Radio advertisement
** Television advertisement
* (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
and U.S. government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...
satellites, plus a series of four prototype
A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...
tools
A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ba ...
that could be attached to the distal
Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position pro ...
end of the Dextre robotic arm
A robotic arm is a type of mechanical arm, usually programmable, with similar functions to a human arm; the arm may be the sum total of the mechanism or may be part of a more complex robot. The links of such a manipulator are connected by joints ...
. Each tool was a prototype of a device that could be used by future satellite servicing missions to refuel spacecraft in orbit.[
NASA successfully completed the phase 1 demonstration mission in January 2013, performing a series of ]robotic
Robotics is an interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist human ...
refuelings of satellite hardware that had not been designed for refueling . An extensive series of robotically actuated propellant transfer
An orbital propellant depot is a cache of propellant that is placed in orbit around Earth or another body to allow spacecraft or the transfer stage of the spacecraft to be fueled in space. It is one of the types of space resource depots that ha ...
experiments on the exposed facility platform of the International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...
(ISS) were completed by the RRM equipment suite and the Canadarm
Canadarm or Canadarm1 (officially Shuttle Remote Manipulator System or SRMS, also SSRMS) is a series of robotic arms that were used on the Space Shuttle orbiters to deploy, manoeuvre, and capture payloads. After the Space Shuttle ''Columbia' ...
/Dextre
Dextre, also known as the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM), is a two armed robot, or telemanipulator, which is part of the Mobile Servicing System on the International Space Station (ISS), and does repairs that would otherwise r ...
robotic arm combination.[
]
RRM is the first in-space refueling demonstration using a platform of fuel valves and spacecraft plumbing representative of most existing satellites, which were not designed for refueling.[
]
Phase 2
Phase 2 of the RRM mission began in August 2013 with the launch of the phase 2 RRM hardware to the ISS aboard the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle 4 (HTV-4
Kounotori 4, also known as HTV-4, was the fourth flight of the H-II Transfer Vehicle, an uncrewed cargo spacecraft launched in August 2013 to resupply the International Space Station. It launched from Tanegashima Space Center aboard H-IIB No. ...
) for test operations expected to be carried out in 2014.[
]
The Phase 2 hardware complement consists of:[
*Two additional RRM task boards
*The RRM On-orbit Transfer Cage
*The ]Visual Inspection Poseable Invertebrate Robot
Dextre, also known as the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM), is a two armed robot, or telemanipulator, which is part of the Mobile Servicing System on the International Space Station (ISS), and does repairs that would otherwise r ...
(VIPIR)—a "borescope inspection tool that provides a set of eyes for internal satellite repair jobs." It was launched on ATV-5 and arrived at the station in August 2014.[NASA's Space Station Fix-It Demo for Satellites Gets Hardware for 2.0 Update.]
/ref>
In February 2014 the ground-based 'Remote Robotic Oxidizer Transfer Test' (RROxiTT) transferred nitrogen tetroxide
Dinitrogen tetroxide, commonly referred to as nitrogen tetroxide (NTO), and occasionally (usually among ex-USSR/Russia rocket engineers) as amyl, is the chemical compound N2O4. It is a useful reagent in chemical synthesis. It forms an equilibrium ...
(NTO) via a standard satellite-fueling valve at the satellite fuelling facility, Kennedy Space Center
The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...
(KSC), using a robot controlled remotely from the Goddard Space Flight Centre, away in Greenbelt, Maryland
Greenbelt is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and a suburb of Washington, D.C. At the 2020 census, the population was 24,921.
Greenbelt is the first and the largest of the three experimental and controversial New Deal ...
.
On March 26, 2015, The RRM On-orbit Transfer Cage was loaded into the Kibo airlock and picked up by the JEM Robotic Arm who handed it off to Dextre for installation on the main module.
On April 30, 2015, The RRM On-Orbit Transfer Cage was installed on the main module and the Phase 1 hardware was removed and placed in the cage for disposal on HTV-4. The experiment was then activated that same day.
Phase 2 experiments over some days were successful?
February 2016 the Phase 2 experiment was deactivated and all fuel and cooling lines were turned off in preparation for disposal of the RRM payload and its fuel on SpaceX Dragon CRS-10.
On February 23, 2017, The main module of the RRM experiment and the Phase 2 hardware were removed and stored in the trunk of SpaceX CRS-10
SpaceX CRS-10, also known as SpX-10, was a Dragon Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station (ISS) which launched on 19 February 2017. The mission was contracted by NASA as part of its Commercial Resupply Services p ...
for disposal and the STP H5 experiment with Raven was activated beginning Phase 3.
Phase 3
Phase 3 testing needed the delivery of Raven (autonomous space navigation demonstration) on CRS-10
SpaceX CRS-10, also known as SpX-10, was a SpaceX Dragon, Dragon Commercial Resupply Services, Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station (ISS) which launched on 19 February 2017. The mission was contracted by NASA as ...
. The new Phase 3 module was delivered to the station on December 8, 2018, on SpaceX CRS-16
SpaceX CRS-16, also known as SpX-16, was a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station launched on 5 December 2018 aboard a Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The mission was contracted by NASA and is flown by SpaceX.
This ...
and installed on the ELC 1 on December 19, 2018. Zero boil off storage of cryogens (methane) was demonstrated for 4 months, but following a cryocooler failure the methane was vented in April 2019. Remaining tests were deferred; these include plugging a fuel nozzle into a refuelling port.[RRM3 @ NASA ]
/ref>
In Oct 2020 the 2nd set of robotic tool operations for RRM3 was completed using the Dextre robot manipulators.''NASA’s Refueling Mission Completes Second Set of Robotic Tool Operations in Space'' NASA, Oct 2020
/ref>
See also
*
*, transferred hydrazine
*
*
*, for non-cryogenic fluids and gases
References
External links
ISS Update: Robotic Refueling Mission Payload Overview
NASA video, January 25, 2013. "it is, or it might be—only history will tell—the start of what could be a revolution or a new era of how satellites are built and flown in space"
{{Use American English, date=January 2014
Robotic manipulation
NASA
Fuels infrastructure
Rocket propellants
Articles containing video clips
Satellite servicing missions