Pergamon 0967-0661(94)E0010-D CoatrolEa&. Practice, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 491-497, 1994 Copyright~D1994 EIszviexScience Ltd Pfint~l in Cu~t Britain. All rights 0967-0661/94 $7,00 + 0.00 SPACE ROBOTICS AND MANIPULATORS - THE PAST AND THE FUTURE J.Z. Sasladek Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Abstract. This paper presents the current state of the technology in space robotics. Some historical developments and the experience gained during those projects have been discussed. The challenge of space exploration and related danger requires even larger use of robotic devices. Many tasks and jobs are being automated. The exploration of the Moon and Mars requires autonomous, mobile robots to gather various information, measurements and data. The introduction of the Space Shuttle and related activities required an efficient robotic manipulator for in orbit operations. The Space Station Mir (in-orbit) and especially Space Station Freedom or Alpha (planned for the very near future) require advanced robots and manipulators. The Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) and Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator (SPDM) have been shown and briefly reviewed.Those and other robots for future missions are discussed in this paper. Keywords. Robotics; manipulators; space robots; aerospace control; automation; automatic control. 1. INTRODUCTION Space exploration requires extensive use of robotics. This has been done in the past and will be done in the future on much and ever larger scale. Robotic devices in space could be divided into three groups: - mobile robots; - flying robots; - robots and manipulators. The second group may be considered as a subset of the first group but because of its distinctive features flying robots have been grouped as a separate entity. Robots in Space can operate in three different modes: - manual; - automatic; - teleoperation. 491 Mobile robots operating in an automatic mode can be further divided into autonomous and nonautonomous. From a locomotion point of view robots may be divided into rovers (wheeled), walking and other. In the past mobile robots have been used in several unmanned missions. The best known are Lunokhod 1 and Lunokhod 2, used in the Luna 17 and 21 missions respectively. Both used wheels as locomotion (8 wheels). Their respective weights were 456 and 539 kilograms. "Lunokhods" were designed to perform technical and scientific research on the Moon's surface. Flying robots can be divided into two groups: first - flying orbital probes like Mariners and Vikings (USA) or Lunas and Mars (Russia); second - flying teleoperators like the Flight Telerobotic Servicer (FTS). Robots and manipulators are used on board spacecraft (Space Shuttle) or space stations (Mir and Freedom - planned).