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Astrobee, the latest robotics assistant at the International Space Station, conducted her first series of equipment tests aboard the outpost.
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Jim Sharkey
May 30, 2019
Anne McClain, NASA astronaut, performs the first series of tests of an Astrobee robot, Bumble, during a hardware check. To his right, the docking station installed in the Kibo module of the International Space Station on February 15. Photo credit: NASA
Astrobee, the latest robotics assistant on the International Space Station, completed his first series of equipment tests aboard the outpost.
On April 30, 2019, NASA astronaut Anne McClain conducted a series of hardware tests on Bumble, one of two Astrobee robots launched on the ISS during Northrop Grumman's 11th flight in the commercial replenishment service at from NASA's Wallops flight center in Virginia.
After unpacking the robot and placing it in a docking station inside the Kibo module of the space station, McClain collaborated with the Astrobee team at the research center of the NASA Ames Research Center in California to confirm all subsystems of the robot, including avionics, cameras, propulsion and mooring, were operating normally.
Bumble and his robot companion Honey, should start flying inside the station this year. The commissioning of the entire system should be completed by the autumn of 2019.
Astrobee builds on the legacy of SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold), the robotic research platform currently installed on the Space Station. Once the Astrobee devices have been fully commissioned, they will replace SPHERES in this role.
The cube-shaped Astrobee robots use electric fans to fly freely throughout the space station. They can "see" and navigate their surroundings using cameras and sensors. They are also equipped with an attachment arm that allows them to grab station handrails or grab and hold small items.
Astrobee is used to study how robots can help astronauts and perform routine surveillance tasks on a spacecraft. Free flying devices can operate autonomously or via remote control by astronauts or ground flight controllers. The first experiments using Astrobee should start in 2020.
Video provided by NASA
Tagged: Astrobee Expedition 59 NASA Northrop International Space Station Grumman The Range
Jim Sharkey
Jim Sharkey is a lab assistant, writer, and general science enthusiast who grew up in Enid, Oklahoma, hometown of Skylab and shuttle astronaut Owen K. Garriott. As a young fan of Star Trek, he participated in the letter writing campaign that led to the name of the prototype of the Space Shuttle Enterprise.
His university studies range from psychology and archeology to biology, but he has never lost his passion for exploring space. Jim started blogging on science, science fiction and futurism in 2004.
Jim resides in the San Francisco Bay Area and attended NASA Socials for the Mars Curiosity Mars Curiosity Rover Landing and the launch of NASA's LADEE Lunar Orbiter.
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