The approach for the development of simulators at the National Aerospace laboratory (NLR): Two space related examples

Simulation plays an increasingly important role during several stages and several types of space related projects, ranging from engineering support simulators to training simulators. Therefore it is required to have a common basis for the definition, the development and, finally, the use of simulators. In this paper the approach for the...

Constrained motion models for insertion/extraction operations applied to the Hermes robot arm: a feasibility study

During operations with a manipulator arm situations will occur where the manipulator end-effector is, or comes, in contact with its environment. In case of the HErmes Robot Arm HERA, contact with the environment may well be planned. For instance, operations like insertion and extraction of a tool from a tool rack, grappling of an Orbital...

Description of a multibody system simulator for the wet satellite model within the mimose environment

For the WSM (Wet Satellite Model) experiment a liquid tank with attached subsystems and instrumentation is ejected from a sounding rocket. The motion of the tank can be considered a dynamometer for the liquid effects. The WSM is excitated from stored angular momentum of an onboard rotor which is braked at a specific moment in time. The WSM will...

Modelling and real-time simulation of the HErmes robot arm HERA

The HErmes Robot Arm (HERA) is a sophisticated and highly automated Space Manipulator System developed to be launched with and operated from the European Spaceplane Hermes. During operational use HERA will be located at the Columbus Free-Flying Laboratory which is part of the European In-Orbit Infrastructure. The HERA Simulation Facility Pilot ...