Spacecraft capture mechanism
View Patent ↗The present invention provides a capture mechanism for capturing and locking onto the Marman flange located on the exterior surfaces of spacecraft/satellites. The capture mechanism achieves its goal of quickly capturing a target spacecraft by splitting the two basic actions involved into two separate mechanisms. One mechanism performs the quick grasp of the target while the other mechanism rigidizes that grasp to ensure that the target is held as firmly as desired. The jaws can be set up to grasp gently, firmly, or even not close completely on the target. Once the jaws have sprung shut, a second mechanism draws the jaws (and their closing mechanism) back into the body of the tool pulling the captured target onto two rigidization surfaces. The mechanism keeps pulling backwards until a pre-established preload is reached at which point the target is considered suitably rigidized to the capture mechanism.
1. A system for capturing a feature on a free flying spacecraft, comprising
a capture mechanism including a two stage grasping tool including
i) a quick grasp mechanism having clamping jaws configured to be sprung closed, said quick grasp mechanism being mounted for movement in a housing, said quick grasp mechanism configured to clamp said feature when said feature is in close proximity to, and triggers said clamping jaws to be sprung quickly and sufficiently shut such that the feature cannot escape from said clamping jaws thus achieving soft capture of the feature; and
ii) a rigidizing mechanism, independently actuated from said quick grasp mechanism and configured to, upon completion of the soft capture of the feature, draw the quick grasp mechanism and the soft captured feature into said housing until said soft captured feature abuts against a rigidisation surface located in said housing to rigidize the soft captured feature and spacecraft relative to said housing.
2. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising
a) a positioning mechanism releasibly attachable to the capture mechanism capable of positioning the capture mechanism into close proximity to the feature to trigger the quick grasp mechanism; and
b) a sensing system for ascertaining a relative position of the capture mechanism and the feature.
3. The system according to claim 1 including a computer control system connected to said sensing system and said positioning mechanism and programmed to position the capture mechanism in close proximity to said feature to trigger said quick grasp mechanism.
4. The system according to claim 3 wherein said computer control system is further programmed to control the actions of said quick grasp and ridigizing mechanisms.
5. The system according to claim 3 including a second computer control system programmed to control the actions of said quick grasp and ridigizing mechanisms.
6. The system according to claim 3 further comprising a communication system configured to provide communication between a command and control system and a remote operator for remote teleoperator control, supervised autonomous control, or fully autonomous control of fluid transfer operations between the servicer spacecraft and the client satellite.
7. The system according to claim 6 wherein said sensing system includes a vision system mounted and configured to provide real time images of all capture and release operations, said vision system being connected to said communication system for transmitting said images to a teleoperator during teleoperation.
8. The system according to claim 6 wherein said sensing system includes a vision system mounted and configured to provide real time images of all fluid transfer operations, said vision system being connected to said communication system for transmitting said images and being configured to be used in an autonomous control system.
9. The system according to claim 1 wherein said capture mechanism includes a first housing section in which said quick grasp mechanism is mounted, said
clamping jaws having proximal sections pivotally mounted to a front portion of said first housing section and extending outwardly from a front of said first housing section,
a biasing mechanism located in said first housing section configured for biasing distal sections of the clamping jaws apart, the biasing mechanism including an elongate plunger mounted for reciprocal movement along an axis of the first housing section, the biasing mechanism including a cam mechanism pivotally mounted to said elongate plunger and configured to have a cam portion engage said clamping jaws to bias the distal sections of the clamping jaws apart when the elongate plunger is fully extended forward of the first housing section, the cam mechanism being configured so that when the elongate plunger contacts a bracket mounted to a spacecraft and is moved inwardly into said first housing section the cam mechanism pivots with respect to said elongate plunger causing the cam portions engaging said clamping jaws to move forward forcing the distal ends of the clamping jaws to pivot toward each other thereby capturing a portion of the bracket; and
said rigidisation mechanism being mounted in a second housing section, said second housing section mounted to a back of said first housing section, said rigidisation mechanism including
a pulling mechanism connected to the elongate plunger configured to draw the elongate plunger and the clamping jaws further into the first housing section, the first housing section and cam mechanism being configured so that as the clamping jaws are withdrawn into the first housing section the cam portions engaging said clamping jaws are biased closer together, the pulling mechanism being configured to further pull the clamping mechanism into said first housing until a portion of the bracket abuts up against a rigidisation bracket to thereby rigidiize the captured spacecraft to the capture mechanism.
10. A capture mechanism for capturing a bracket mounted to a spacecraft, comprising:
a) a first housing section, a quick grasp mechanism mounted in said first housing section, said quick grasp mechanism including
clamping jaws having proximal sections pivotally mounted to a front portion of said first housing section and extending outwardly from a front of said first housing section,
a biasing mechanism located in said first housing section configured for biasing distal sections of the clamping jaws apart, the biasing mechanism including an elongate plunger mounted for reciprocal movement along an axis of the first housing section, the biasing mechanism including a cam mechanism pivotally mounted to said elongate plunger and configured to have a cam portion engage said clamping jaws to bias the distal sections of the clamping jaws apart when the elongate plunger is fully extended forward of the first housing section, the cam mechanism being configured so that when the elongate plunger contacts a bracket mounted to a spacecraft and is moved inwardly into said first housing section the cam mechanism pivots with respect to said elongate plunger causing the cam portions engaging said clamping jaws to move forward forcing the distal ends of the clamping jaws to pivot toward each other thereby capturing a portion of the bracket; and
b) a second housing section mounted to a back of said first housing section, a rigidisation mechanism mounted in said second housing section, said rigidisation mechanism including
a pulling mechanism connected to the elongate plunger configured to draw the elongate plunger and the clamping jaws further into the first housing section, the first housing section and cam mechanism being configured so that as the clamping jaws are withdrawn into the first housing section the cam portions engaging said clamping jaws are biased closer together, the pulling mechanism being configured to further pull the clamping mechanism into said first housing until a portion of the bracket abuts up against a rigidisation bracket to thereby rigidiize the captured spacecraft to the capture mechanism.