Results of NASDA's ETS-VII Robot Mission and Its Applications

The rendezvous docking and space robot technologies are indispensable for future space activities such as construction and operation of the international space station, inspection and repair of orbiting satellites, and conducting lunar/planetary explorations. The National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) developed and launched an engineering test satellite named ETS-VII(Engineering Test Satellite #7) on November 28, 1997 to conduct the rendezvous docking and space robot technology experiments. ETS-VII carries a robot arm, which is teleoperated from the ground and is being used in various tasks such as exchange of equipment. It also conducted the automated rendezvous docking experiments. This paper summarizes the ETS-VII mission mainly its robot experiment results and its applications.