JP2000272600A - Spacecraft system adapted for in-orbit maintenance - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prolong the service life of a spacecraft by realizing easy and simple spacecraft maintenance and inspection. SOLUTION: An equipment having a handle to be loaded is freely detachably loaded on a spacecraft 10 having a handle, a plurality of spacecraft's 10 are disposed at different rising intersection angles on the same orbit plane, a working spacecraft 17 and a storage spacecraft 18 storing and housing the equipment to be loaded and a consumable equipment are disposed on the same orbit plane, and when the equipment to be loaded fails, the working spacecraft 17 controls the operations of robots 20 and 21 to grip and capture the handle of the failed spacecraft 10 and grip the failed equipment to be loaded and remove it from the spacecraft 10, then the failed equipment 10 to be loaded is housed and stored in the storage spacecraft, the stored equipment to be loaded is removed from the storage spacecraft, and a replacement is provided in the equipment removing portion.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to, for example, deploying a plurality of communication satellites at different ascending intersection angles on the same orbit plane,
The present invention relates to an on-orbit maintenance-compatible spacecraft system suitable for use in a communication satellite system or an earth observation satellite system that executes various types of information communication with the ground via a plurality of communication satellites.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a communication satellite system,
A plurality of communication satellites are arranged at different ascending intersection angles on a predetermined orbital plane, and information communication is performed by selectively using the plurality of communication satellites. On the plurality of communication satellites, on-board equipment including a signal transmitting / receiving antenna is mounted on the satellite structure using a fastener, and the on-board equipment is used for desired operation in a communication system.

[0003] In such a communication satellite system, if the equipment mounted on the communication satellite breaks down, its operation becomes difficult. If its maintenance and replacement are difficult, the life of the communication satellite system is extended. The satellite is launched into space and the system continues to operate.

Further, even when consumable equipment such as a propellant of a communication satellite has been consumed in outer space, it is also determined that the life has expired, and a new communication satellite which takes the place of the consumable is replaced. Once launched, system operation will continue.

However, according to the above-mentioned means, since the failed communication satellite remains on the same orbital plane, it hinders the flight of other operating communication satellites and, in the worst case, collides. There is a problem that.

Therefore, as a countermeasure against a failed communication satellite, the failed satellite is captured and recovered in space to repair the failed part, or when repair is difficult, the satellite is moved out of orbit called a so-called deorbit. It is considered to be eliminated.

However, in the above satellite maintenance measures, a communication satellite is captured in space, its fasteners are loosened, the failed on-board equipment is removed from the satellite structure, and then new on-board equipment is used by using the fasteners. Therefore, there is a problem that the work of attaching and detaching the satellite structure is very complicated and dangerous.

The problem of the maintenance and inspection work of the spacecraft system such as the communication satellite system is one of the serious problems in the field of space development in the future in consideration of the life of the spacecraft and an increase in space debris called debris. Has become one.

The above situation is not limited to the above-mentioned communication satellite system, but also applies to a spacecraft system in which a plurality of spacecraft such as an earth observation satellite system are deployed at different ascending intersection angles on the same orbit plane.

[0010]

As described above, the conventional communication satellite system has a problem that when a device mounted on the communication satellite fails, the replacement work is complicated and involves a risk.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is an orbital maintenance-compatible spacecraft which is simple and easily realizes maintenance and inspection of the spacecraft to promote a long life. The purpose is to provide a system.

[0012]

According to the present invention, a mounting device provided with a handle for holding a robot is removably mounted via a mounting / removing mechanism, and a capturing handle is provided on a peripheral wall portion. A plurality of spacecrafts arranged at different ascending intersection angles on the same orbital plane, and a plurality of spacecrafts arranged on the same orbital plane as the spacecraft, for replacement of the mounted equipment mounted on the spacecraft. A storage spacecraft provided with a capture handle for accommodating equipment and replacement consumables of the spacecraft, and a storage spacecraft provided on the same orbital plane as the plurality of spacecrafts, A plurality of operations of grasping a capture handle to detach the mounted equipment and consumable equipment, and grasping a capture handle of the storage spacecraft and exchanging with the mounted equipment and consumable equipment stored in the storage spacecraft. Work robot equipped with a robot Configured orbit maintenance corresponding spacecraft system and a machine.

According to the above configuration, when the spacecraft breaks down,
When the working spacecraft and the storage spacecraft approach the failed spacecraft, first, the working spacecraft operates and controls one of the robots to grip and capture the handle of the failed spacecraft, The robot removes the failed spacecraft by gripping the handle of the failure-mounted device, and then operates and controls one robot to release the spacecraft. Subsequently, the working spacecraft operates and controls one of the robots, grasps and captures the handle of the storage spacecraft, and stores the faulty mounted device grasped by the other robots in the storage spacecraft. The user grasps the handle of the on-board equipment stored by another robot and detaches it from the storage spacecraft, and operates and controls one robot to release the capture of the storage spacecraft. Thereafter, the working spacecraft operates and controls one of the robots, grasps the handle of the failed spacecraft, captures the failed spacecraft, and controls the other robots to operate the grasped mounted device. Replace and attach to the position where the failed spacecraft was removed.

[0014] This makes it possible to repeatedly perform on-orbit maintenance and inspection including safe and easy equipment replacement work for the mounted equipment, thereby extending the life of the spacecraft system.

According to the present invention, there is further provided a mounting device provided with a handle for holding a robot, which is detachably mounted via a mounting / dismounting mechanism, wherein the same track having a captured coupling portion provided on a peripheral wall portion is provided. A plurality of spacecrafts deployed at different ascending intersection angles on a plane, and a spacecraft that is deployed on the same orbital plane as the spacecraft, and a replacement mounting device for the mounting device mounted on the spacecraft; A storage spacecraft provided with a captured coupling portion for accommodating replacement consumables of the spacecraft, and the spacecraft or the spacecraft or the spacecraft being arranged on the same orbital plane as the plurality of spacecrafts. Capture coupling means for releasably capturing and coupling the captured coupling portion of the storage spacecraft; and, in the capture state of the capture coupling means, the on-board equipment and consumable equipment of the spacecraft are detached, and the storage space is released. Onboard equipment stored in the machine and A spacecraft system equipped with a working spacecraft equipped with a working robot for exchanging consumables was constructed.

According to the above configuration, when the spacecraft breaks down,
When the working spacecraft and the storage spacecraft approach the failed spacecraft, first, the working spacecraft operates and controls the capture coupling means to capture and couple the captured coupling portion of the failed spacecraft. At the same time, the robot is operated and controlled to grip the handle of the faulty mounted device and detach from the faulty spacecraft, and thereafter, the capture coupling means is operated and controlled to release the captured coupling portion of the spacecraft. Subsequently, the working spacecraft operates and controls the capture and coupling means to capture and couple the captured coupling portion of the storage spacecraft, and stores the faulty mounted device held by the robot in the storage spacecraft. The robot grasps the handle of the mounted equipment stored in the robot and detaches it from the storage spacecraft, and controls the capture and coupling means to release the capture and coupling of the captured coupling part of the storage spacecraft. Thereafter, the working spacecraft operates and controls the captured coupling portion, captures the captured coupling portion of the failed spacecraft, couples the captured coupling portion with the failed spacecraft, and controls and controls the robot to grip the captured spacecraft. Replace the mounted equipment at the position where the failed spacecraft was removed.

This makes it possible to repeatedly carry out on-orbit maintenance and inspection including safe and easy equipment replacement work for the mounted equipment, thereby extending the life of the spacecraft system.

According to the present invention, a working spacecraft is provided with a plurality of robots. According to this, by selectively operating a plurality of robots, the work form can be diversified, and further, the maintenance and inspection work including the equipment replacement work can be simplified.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an on-orbit maintenance-compatible spacecraft system according to an embodiment of the present invention. A plurality of spacecrafts 10 constitute, for example, a communication satellite, and a plurality of spacecrafts 10 are simultaneously located in outer space from the ground. And deployed at different ascending node angles on the same orbital plane. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the plurality of spacecrafts 10 are provided with a capture marking target 11 and a capture grip 12 on the peripheral wall thereof, and a mounting device 13 is detachably mounted in correspondence with the grip 12. It is configured in a substantially similar module structure.

The mounting device 13 is provided with a catching marking target 14 and a gripping handle 15, and a predetermined portion thereof includes a detachable mechanism constituting an attachment interface, for example, a captive bolt 16 which can be screwed and adjusted. Are arranged with an interval of. As shown in FIG. 3, the captive bolt 15 is rotatably attached to the mounting device 13, and a screw portion 161 is provided at a tip end thereof.
A screwing operation section 162 is provided at the base end.

The spacecraft 10 to which the above-mentioned equipment 13 is attached or detached has a plurality of screw holes (not shown for convenience of illustration) at the equipment mounting site. The screw portion 161 of the captive bolt 16 of the mounted device 13 is screwed into this screw hole (not shown) so that the mounted device 13 is located at the device mounting portion of the spacecraft 10. Will be installed. The captive bolt 16 is connected to the screw 161 thereof.
Is detached from the screw hole (not shown) of the spacecraft 10, is supported by the on-board device 13, and is separated from the spacecraft 10 together with the on-board device 13.

Further, a working spacecraft 17 and a storage spacecraft 18 are provided on the orbit plane as shown in FIG. Each of the working spacecraft 17 and the storage spacecraft 18 is provided with a propulsion device 19, which is driven and controlled to drive the propulsion device 19 freely on the orbit plane. In response to the maintenance command signal, the vehicle approaches the desired spacecraft 10 and is used for maintenance and inspection including equipment replacement as described later.

A plurality of, for example, two robots 20, 21 are operably mounted on the working spacecraft 17, among them.
These robots 20 and 21 have grippers 201 and 211, respectively.
Are provided corresponding to the handle 12 of the spacecraft 10 and the handle 15 of the mounted device 13. Also, this robot 2
The mounting device 1 is mounted on the grippers 201, 211 of
An adjusting section (not shown) for adjusting the screwing of the captive bolt 16 and a consumable equipment replacing section are provided.

On the other hand, the storage spacecraft 18 stores, although not shown, consumables such as replacement mounting equipment 13 and propellant, and has a handle and a marking target (not shown) provided on the peripheral wall thereof. Thereby, the storage spacecraft 1
8 is selectively captured and released by the robots 20 and 21 of the working spacecraft 17 using the handle (not shown) and the marking target (not shown). The replacement mounting device 13 stored in the storage spacecraft 10 is provided with a marking target 14, a handle 15, and a captive bolt 16 like the mounting device 13 of the spacecraft 13.

In the above configuration, when the ground station receives a failure signal from any one of the plurality of spacecrafts 10 or identifies a failure based on the communication signal, the work spacecraft 17 and the storage spacecraft 18 are switched to each other. The operation control is performed to approach the failed spacecraft 10, and the robot 20 of the working spacecraft 17 is operated and controlled so that the marking target 11 of the spacecraft 10 is targeted, and the grip 12 is gripped by the gripping portion 201. To capture. After that, the work spacecraft 17
Operates and controls the robot 21 so that the gripper 21
1, the handle 15 of the failure mounting device 13 of the spacecraft 10 is grasped, and the captive bolt 16 is loosened, and the screw portion 161 is separated from the screw hole (not shown) of the spacecraft 10 to separate from the spacecraft 10. Is done.

Here, the working spacecraft 17 operates the robot 20 to grasp the storage spacecraft 18 by gripping the above-mentioned handle (not shown) of the storage spacecraft 18 with the gripper 201. Then, the failure mounting device 13 held by the robot 21 is accommodated in the storage spacecraft 18 and is screwed and fixed at a predetermined position using the captive bolt 16.
Subsequently, the working spacecraft 17 operates the robot 21 to grip and remove the handle 15 of the storage mounted device 13 stored in the grip portion 211, and the robot 2
0 to release the grip of the handle (not shown) of the storage spacecraft 18.

Next, the working spacecraft 17 again operates the robot 20 to grasp the spacecraft 10 by gripping the handle 12 of the failed spacecraft 10 with its gripping portion 201. Here, the working spacecraft 17 operates the robot 21 to position the storage mounting device 13 to be gripped and the device detaching portion of the spacecraft 10, and then adjusts the captive bolt 16 to operate the device of the spacecraft 10. It is set on the mounting part, and then the grip of the handle 15 is released. Subsequently, in the working spacecraft 17, the robot 20 is operated to release the grip 12 of the spacecraft 10 from the gripping portion 21 thereof, and the device replacement operation is completed.

In replacing the consumable equipment such as the propellant of the spacecraft 10, the robots 20 and 21 of the working spacecraft 17 are operated in a substantially similar manner to first take out the consumable equipment from the spacecraft 10 and use it. Spacecraft 18 for storing used consumables
After that, the storage consumables of the storage spacecraft 18 are taken out and mounted on the spacecraft 10 in an exchangeable manner.

When the spacecraft 10 has reached the end of its service life and repair is difficult, the working spacecraft 17 operates its robots 20 and 21 to grip the handle 12 of the spacecraft 10, for example. Thus, the failed spacecraft 10 is removed from the orbital plane to prevent collision with another spacecraft 10.

As described above, the on-orbit maintenance compatible spacecraft system uses the mounted equipment 13 having the handle 15 as the handle 1.
The spacecraft 10 is provided with a plurality of spacecrafts 10 at different ascending intersection angles on the same orbital plane, and the robots 20 and 21 are mounted on the same orbital plane.
And a storage spacecraft 18 for storing the above-mentioned mounted equipment 13 and consumable equipment (not shown). When a failure occurs in the mounted equipment 13 of the spacecraft 10, The spacecraft 17 and the storage spacecraft 18 approach the failed spacecraft 10, and first, the working spacecraft 17 controls the operation of the robots 20 and 21 to grip the handle 12 of the failed spacecraft 10. Capture and use the on-board equipment 13
The spacecraft 10 is released by grasping the handle 15 of the storage spacecraft 10, and then once released, the handle (not shown) of the storage spacecraft 18 is grasped and captured, and the robot 20, The faulty mounting device 10 gripped by 21 is accommodated in the storage spacecraft 18, and the handle 15 of the storage mounting device 13 is gripped and taken out from the storage spacecraft 18, and exchanged and attached to the device removal site. Configured.

According to this, it is possible to repeatedly perform on-orbit maintenance and inspection including safe and easy equipment replacement work of the on-board equipment 13 mounted on the spacecraft 10, and to extend the life of the spacecraft 10 for a long time. Can be promoted.

Further, according to this, the spacecraft 10 whose life has expired can be discharged out of orbit and treated so as not to become space dust called debris, thereby promoting prevention of debris generation in outer space. This contributes to improving the safety of space development.

In the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which the work spacecraft 17 is provided with two robots 20 and 21 to perform equipment replacement work and consumable equipment replacement. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Alternatively, the working spacecraft 10 may be provided with two or more robots. According to this, in a state where both the spacecraft 10 and the storage spacecraft 18 are captured by the robot of the working spacecraft 17,
Since the maintenance and inspection including the equipment replacement work can be performed, the work can be speeded up, and further effective effects are expected.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the coupling between the working spacecraft 17 and the spacecraft 10 or the storage spacecraft 18 is configured by using the robots 20 and 21 has been described. Without, for example, spacecraft 1
0 and the storage spacecraft 18 are provided with a captured coupling part that constitutes a docking mechanism, and the working spacecraft 17 is provided with a capture coupling mechanism. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the capture coupling portion of the spacecraft 18 for use is selectively captured and coupled to perform coupling between the spacecrafts.

In contrast to the above-described embodiment, the docking-captured coupling portion and the capture-coupling mechanism are provided in the spacecraft 10 and the storage spacecraft 18, and the captured coupling portion is provided. May be provided on the working spacecraft 17 so as to realize capture coupling.

Therefore, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0038]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, maintenance and inspection of a spacecraft can be realized easily and easily.
An on-orbit maintenance-ready spacecraft system capable of promoting a long life can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an on-orbit maintenance compatible spacecraft system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view shown for explaining a procedure of a device replacement operation of the working spacecraft of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing details of the captive bolt of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 ... spacecraft 11 ... marking target. 12 ... Handle. 13 ... Onboard equipment. 14 ... Marking target. 15 ... Handle. 16 ... Captive bolt. 161 ... screw part. 162: screwing operation unit. 17 ... Spacecraft for work. 18 ... Spacecraft for storage. 19 ... thruster. 20 ... Robot. 201: grip part. 21 ... Robot. 211 ... Grip part.

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] May 31, 1999 (1999.5.3
1)

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0006

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

Therefore, as a countermeasure against a failed communication satellite, the failed satellite is captured and recovered in space to repair the failed portion, or when repair is difficult, the satellite is moved out of orbit called a so-called deorbit . line the elimination of
It has been considered to be or become.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A mounting device provided with a handle for holding a robot is removably mounted via a mounting / removing mechanism, and different ascending intersection points on the same track surface provided with a capturing handle on a peripheral wall portion. A plurality of spacecraft deployed at an angle, and deployed on the same orbital plane as the spacecraft,
A storage spacecraft provided with a capture handle for accommodating a replacement mounting device of the mounting device mounted on the spacecraft and a replacement consumable material of the spacecraft; and an orbital surface identical to the plurality of spacecrafts. Being disposed on the storage spacecraft, grasping the capture handle of the spacecraft to detach the mounted equipment and consumable equipment, and grasping the capture handle of the storage spacecraft to the storage spacecraft. An on-orbit maintenance-ready spacecraft system including a working spacecraft equipped with a plurality of working robots to be exchanged for on-board equipment and consumable equipment to be stored. 2. A mounting device provided with a handle for holding a robot, which is removably mounted via a mounting / dismounting mechanism, wherein different lifts on the same orbital surface provided with a captured coupling portion on a peripheral wall portion. A plurality of spacecraft deployed at intersection angles, and deployed on the same orbital plane as the spacecraft,
A storage spacecraft provided with a captured coupling portion for accommodating a replacement mounting device of the mounting device mounted on the spacecraft and a replacement consumable material of the spacecraft; and a same orbit as the plurality of spacecrafts. Capture coupling means, which is disposed on a surface, and which captures and couples a captured coupling portion of the spacecraft or the storage spacecraft in a releasable manner, and wherein in the capture state of the capture coupling means, An on-orbit maintenance-compatible spacecraft including a working spacecraft equipped with a working robot for detaching the on-board equipment and consumable equipment of the machine and replacing the on-board equipment and consumable equipment stored in the storage spacecraft with the storage spacecraft system. 3. The spacecraft system for on-orbit maintenance according to claim 2, wherein said working spacecraft includes a plurality of working robots. 4. The spacecraft system for orbit maintenance according to claim 1, wherein a marking target is provided for each of the handles on the working spacecraft and the on-board equipment. . 5. The spacecraft system for on-orbit maintenance according to claim 1, wherein said spacecraft is modularized to have the same configuration.