The Orbital Robotics Laboratory is part of ESA’s Robotics Section, accommodating its orbital robotics and GNC activities. It supports the development of existing and upcoming missions as well as R&D activities in the fields of Active Debris Removal, In-Orbit Servicing, and the wider In-Space Assembly and Manufacturing vision. It maintains the free-floating facility (called ORBIT), multiple floating platforms to use in ORBIT, as well as additional equipment and instruments that aid the development of a test campaign in the facility. All equipment is available for the student teams to use.
A poster detailing the laboratory facilities is available here.
At the heart of the Orbital Robotics Laboratory is the flat floor with a size of 4.8 m x 9 m. This facility provides a suitable analogue to the microgravity space environment, albeit constrained to a plane, simulating microgravity in two translational and one rotational dimension. The 2D simulation of behaviour as in microgravity is achieved by creating a stable air gap between the air bearings of a floating platform and the extremely flat floor. The payloads are placed on top of the air bearings platforms and experience no friction with the ground, allowing one simple push to make them drift away across the floor as they would in orbit.
The payloads are mounted on free-floating platforms, allowing them to interact with other drifting systems or operate autonomously in a frictionless environment. This unique setup enables the realistic validation of satellite capture mechanisms and advanced control technologies under simulated weightlessness. Demonstrating your system in these conditions is not only an essential step in the design process, but it is also a great opportunity to prove its readiness for the challenges of space. The laboratory has enabled the testing of many systems, including:
Gecko-inspired space gripper
Robotic crawling technologies for assembly of Large Space Structures
Satellite docking systems
Satellite GNC for proximity inspections using classical approaches, as well as reinforcement learning
Robotic quadruped orientation control under reduced gravity
A human can be seated on a free-floating platform to interact with objects, tools, or assemblies while experiencing microgravity-like behaviour. This enables research and experiments in the field of astronaut training and validation of controls for tools to be used in space. When an astronaut touches an object in space, they float away from it because everything is floating. The experiment in the laboratory can also be augmented with a Virtual Reality headset. The analogue astronaut then experiences a completely immersive simulated microgravity-like orbital environment.
Teams selected to participate in the programme are guided and supported by ESA experts and members of the European Low Gravity Research Association (ELGRA) as they navigate through all stages of the project, from the initial stages of design through to the operation and data collection phases of their experiment.
While defining their projects, applicants should keep in mind the following constraints that apply to the experiment and student team (amongst others):
Experiments requiring high temperatures, open flames or similar conditions cannot be performed within the ORL. Exceptions may be discussed, but the experimental set-up must be well contained and should present no hazard to either the personnel or the facility.
Documentation and reviews are necessary for each phase of the programme. Multiple project milestones must be passed for the project to continue to the campaign.
More information about the Orbital Robotics Laboratory can be found here.
Detailed technical documentation to support the experiment’s requirements definition and interfacing with the facilities is provided upon selection into the ESA Academy Experiments Programme.
Please note that the conditions detailed above are subject to change without prior notice.
Click on the links below to see a selection of experiments tested in the Orbital Robotics Laboratory within the ESA Academy Experiments Programme, as well as others conducted outside this scope.
Iscriviti alla nostra newsletter per ricevere le ultime notizie, gli aggiornamenti sulle missioni e approfondimenti esclusivi direttamente nella tua casella di posta. Sii tra i primi a conoscere i nostri prossimi progetti e le nostre scoperte.
