News from China Manned Space Engineering Office: January 6, 2022, 6:59 p.m. Beijing time, after about 47 minutes of cross-system close coordination, China’s space station robotic arm transposition cargo spacecraft test achieved a complete success, this is China’s first use of the space station robotic arm to operate a large in-orbit vehicle transposition test.
According to Chinese media reports, the mechanical arm successfully captured the Tianzhou II cargo spacecraft in the early hours of January 6. 6:12 a.m. The indexing test began, after the unlocking and separation of the Tianzhou II cargo spacecraft and the core module, the mechanical arm dragged the core module node module spherical center as the center of the plane of indexing; then, the reverse operation, until the cargo spacecraft and the core module docked again and completed the locking.
The test initially tested the feasibility and effectiveness of using the robotic arm to operate the space station module rotation, verified the space station module rotation technology and robotic arm large load manipulation technology, and accumulated experience for the subsequent assembly and construction of the space station in orbit.
The space station robotic arm is developed by the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Group, which is one of the new areas of development of China’s space industry, integrating mechanical, electrical, thermal, control, optical and other specialties, which also highlights the development difficulty of the double-arm combination adapter. With the smooth progress of the construction of the Chinese space station, the double-arm combination adapter will help two very different forms of mechanical arms to complete the transfer, to ensure that the combination of mechanical arms has the ability to carry a larger load for a wide range of transfer.
According to Gao Sheng, the person in charge of flight control for the robotic arm of the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the robotic arm of the space station is composed of the core module robotic arm (big arm) and the “Wentian” experimental module robotic arm (small arm).
In accordance with the key technology verification of the space station and the mission planning during the construction phase, the experimental module manipulator will be launched into orbit along with the “Wentian” experimental module, and will complete the “large and small arms on-orbit combination” operation with the core module manipulator in space. The key device to realize the combination is the dual-arm combination adapter. Since the core cabin manipulator arm with a length of 10 meters and the experimental cabin manipulator arm with a length of 5 meters are quite different in “body shape”, the port design is also quite different.
For this reason, the development team of the Fifth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Group turned the “cosmic arm adapter” from an idea into a technological artifact. It not only helps to complete the interconnection of two robotic arm interfaces, but also realizes the electrical and information interoperability between the two, and safely connects the two robotic arms in the harsh space environment.