AAS 98-171

ON-ORBIT ENGINEERING TESTS OF AERCAM SPRINT ROBOTIC CAMERA VEHICLE

T. Williams, S. Tanygin - University of Cincinnati

Abstract

AERCam Sprint, a prototype "camera pod" vehicle developed by NASA Johnson, was tested on-orbit in December 1997 during the STS-87 mission. Sprint is a 35 lbm, 14 inch diameter sphere equipped with two television cameras, a 6 DOF cold-gas propulsion system, and an automatic attitude hold capability which maintains a fixed inertial orientation. After Sprint was released manually by EVA astronaut Winston Scott, it was tele-operated through a 70 minute test sequence by astronaut Steve Lindsey. This paper describes the maneuver sequence that was developed for the Sprint mission, and the actual flight test results obtained.

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