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Publikation

Space USB: defining an enhanced standardization level for Space Standard Interconnects

Montserrat Díaz-Carrasco; Ana Luisa Ruiz; Javier Viñals; Mathieu Deremetz; Pierre Letier; Christoper Zeis; Thomas A. Schervan; Wiebke Brinkmann; Mehmed Yüksel; Utku Akinci; Fabien Marty; Mattisse Briand; Raphaél Boissonnade
In: ASTRA 2025 Proceedings. ESA/Estec Symposium on Advanced Space Technologies in Robotics and Automation (ASTRA-2025), 18th Symposium on Advanced Space Technologies in Robotics and Automation, located at ASTRA-2025, October 7-9, Scheltema, Leiden, Netherlands, ESA, 2025.

Zusammenfassung

In the current space ecosystem, Standard Interconnects (SI) are a key building block to enable the operations for In-Orbit Servicing (IOS) and In-Space Manufacturing and Assembly (ISMA). Robotic operations are dependent on a common interface to provide electrical, mechanical and data connection that allows modularity and repairability. To this day, many solutions have been proposed for this purpose, offering integral solutions in the scope of robotic servicing. Three main actors in Europe are leading the development in SIs: Sener, with SIROM; Space Applications Services, with Hotdock; and iBoss, with iSSI. The scope of Space USB1, a project led by Thales Alenia France, is to define a single standard to cover the European needs in IOS and ISMA robotic applications. This is achieved through the collaboration of the three suppliers, with the inputs from DFKI as a research institute, and Thales as coordinator. An Advisory Board was also involved in the project to provide valuable feedback during the process to assess the balance between the desired capabilities and the current state of the art. The two-year project has the main purpose of designing and testing a unified design to cover the needs of the main system integrators. This paper will present the work done on the three main aspects covered by the project. Firstly, a State of the Art was made to evaluate SIs across the world, examining the current capabilities offered by the project members but also by the rest of the manufacturers globally; the results were structured and analysed in the first stage of the project. Secondly, a SI Specification was defined in order to cover all the basic functionalities required in SIs; at this point, the Advisory Board was consulted to provide the perspective of European system integrators. Thirdly, a 3-in-1 design was developed collaboratively in accordance with the defined requirements and the pre-existing SI designs, offering a single solution for the robotic needs of a space system. This last stage also included the outline of the test campaign that will evaluate the capabilities of the resulting interface. The work performed on the project aspires to be a key development for the future of European space robotics, and hopefully lead the way towards a future environment based on modularity, sustainability and interoperability.

Projekte