Design of PORTRS ISS Demo Mission: Mobile Manipulator Supporting Crew Missions

JAXA proposes the Payload ORganization and Transportation Robotic System (PORTRS) mission, the crewed mission supporting the mobile manipulator. The mission will include inspection, maintenance installation and swapping of payload, and cargo handling. JAXA has designed the PORTRS ISS (International Space Station) demonstration mission to exhibit the feasibility of robotic technology that will contribute to the astronaut’s support and provide an innovative robotic testbed on the ISS with expandible manipulation capabilities. Remote monitoring and installation and swapping payload are defined as reference tasks performed by a robot for demonstrating functionalities. After the demonstration phase, the robot will be utilized in actual use on the ISS based to prove operational concepts. In addition, the robotic system is available as an on-orbit testbed platform. This paper presents the design concept of the PORTRS ISS mission, key function based on the current crew task analysis, and a feasibility study.