Space-based manipulators have traditionally been tasked with robotic on-orbit servicing or assembly functions, but active debris removal has become a more urgent application. We present a much-needed tutorial review of many of the robotics aspects of active debris removal informed by activities in on-orbit servicing. We begin with a cursory review of on-orbit servicing manipulators followed by a short review on the space debris problem. Following brief consideration of the time delay problems in teleoperation, the meat of the paper explores the field of space robotics regarding the kinematics, dynamics and control of manipulators mounted onto spacecraft. The core of the issue concerns the spacecraft mounting which reacts in response to the motion of the manipulator. We favour the implementation of spacecraft attitude stabilisation to ease some of the computational issues that will become critical as increasing level of autonomy are implemented. We review issues concerned with physical manipulation and the problem of multiple arm operations. We conclude that space robotics is well-developed and sufficiently mature to tackling tasks such as active debris removal.

We explore the limits of in situ resource utilization (ISRU) on the Moon to maximize living off the land by building lunar bases from in situ material. We adopt the philosophy of indigenous peoples who excelled in sustainability. We are interested in leveraging lunar resources to manufacture an entire lunar base in such a fashion that is fully sustainable and minimizes supplies required from Earth. A range of metals, ceramics and volatiles can be extracted from lunar minerals to support construction of a lunar base that include structure, piping and electrical distribution systems. To 3D print a lunar base, we must 3D print the load-bearing structure, electrical distribution system, water-based heating system, drinking water system, air system and orbital transport system from in situ resources. We also address the manufacture of the interior of the lunar base from local resources. The majority of systems constituting a lunar base can be manufactured from in situ resources.

The Moon Village and similar concepts are strongly reliant on in situ resource utilisation (ISRU). There is great interest in harvesting solar power using locally leveraged in situ resources as an essential facet of in situ infrastructure. Traditionally, silicon-based photovoltaic cells have been assumed, preferably manufactured in situ using a 3D printing rover, but there are major difficulties with such scenarios. Solar cells require pre-processing of regolith and solar cell manufacture. We present an alternative lunar resource leveraged-solar power production system on the Moon which can yield high conversion efficiencies – solar Fresnel lens-thermionic conversion. The thermionic vacuum tube is constructed from lunar-derived materials and NiFe asteroidal ores on the Moon. Given that the majority of energy required for ISRU is thermal, thermionic conversion exploits this energy source directly. Silicates such as anorthite can be treated with acid to yield alumina and silicic acid in solution from which pure silica can be precipitated. Pure silica when heated to high temperature yields fused silica glass which is transparent – fused silica glass may be employed to manufacture Fresnel lenses and/or mirrors. Both silica and alumina may be input to the Metalysis Fray Farthing Chen Cambridge electrolytic process to yield near pure Si and near pure Al, respectively.

In this review, I explore a broad-based view of technologies for supporting human activities on the Moon and, where appropriate, Mars. Primarily, I assess the state of life support systems technology beginning with physicochemical processes, waste processing, bioregenerative methods, food production systems and the robotics and advanced biological technologies that support the latter. We observe that the Moon possesses in-situ resources but that these resources are of limited value in closed ecological life support systems (CELSS)—indeed, CELSS technology is most mature in recycling water and oxygen, the two resources that are abundant on the Moon. This places a premium on developing CELSS that recycle other elements that are rarified on the Moon including C and N in particular but also other elements such as P, S and K which might be challenging to extract from local resources. Although we focus on closed loop ecological life support systems, we also consider related technologies that involve the application of biological organisms to bioregenerative medical technologies and bioregenerative approaches to industrial activity on the Moon as potential future developments.

This paper presents a procedure to model the drawbar pull and resistive torque of an unknown terrain as a function of normal load and slip using on-board rover instruments. Kapvik , which is a planetary micro-rover prototype with a rocker-bogie mobility system, is simulated in two dimensions. A suite of sensors is used to take relevant measurements; in addition to typical rover measurements, forces above the wheel hubs and rover forward velocity are sensed. An estimator determines the drawbar pull, resistive torque, normal load, and slip of the rover. The collected data are used to create a polynomial fit model that closely resembles the real terrain response.