MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Inc.

Provided is an illumination system and reflector device. The illumination system includes an illumination reflector that reflects light into a field-of-view (FOV) of a camera system. The illumination reflector directs source illumination, that would otherwise be lost, into the FOV of the camera system. The illumination reflector may include two stages that are asymmetrical.

Provided are systems and methods for achieving low surface resistivity of a surface treated, dry-lubricated, electrically-conductive surface. A method includes providing a surface to be used in a space environment that is composed of an electrically conductive material, the surface including a first area and a second area, wherein the first area and the second area are contiguous, applying a surface treatment to the first area and leaving the second area of the surface untreated, wherein the surface treatment renders the first area non-conductive, and applying a dry-film lubricant over the first area and the second area, wherein the application of the dry-film lubricant over the first area and second area mitigates surface charging effects for the non-conductive first area.

Systems and methods for autonomous health monitoring of an autonomous machine are provided. The method includes: performing autonomous tasks with the autonomous machine; using a subsystem of the autonomous machine during performance of the autonomous tasks; collecting data for a plurality of subsystem attributes during use of the subsystem; analyzing the data using a predictive algorithm to detect an off-nominal health signature, wherein the off-nominal health signature is based on the data for a subset of the subsystem attributes; and outputting an off-nominal health flag based on the off-nominal health signature.

Provided is a system, method and device for payload positioning. The system includes a rover configured to travel to a site and hold the payload, a sensor module attached to the rover for obtaining sensor data of the site, a robotic arm for equipping and stowing away the sensor module, attaching to a connection point of the payload, and controlling a position of the payload when attached to the connection point.

Provided is systems and methods for converting rotational motion to linear motion. The system includes a rotor, a translator, wherein the translator translates axially along a rotation axis of the rotor, and a plurality of linkages arranged around the rotation axis on a linkage system that connect the rotor to the translator and that translate rotation of the rotor into translation of the translator.

A system and method for autonomously supporting extravehicular activity (“EVA”) on a spacecraft is provided. The system includes: a robotic arm for moving an EVA crew member on a robotic arm to and from a worksite; an autonomy processing device configured to: execute a collision avoidance module that detects a potential collision situation based on telemetry received from sensors of the robotic arm, wherein the collision avoidance module includes preconfigured collision models representing the robotic arm and structure of the spacecraft and an envelope model that covers the EVA crew member on the tip of the robotic arm; and execute an autonomous sensing of unexpected obstacles (ASUO) module during motion of the robotic arm that compares image data of a real world volume to the same volume in a modelled world and detects objects sensed in the real world volume that do not exist in the modelled world.

A dust mitigation device for protecting mechanisms is provided. The device comprises a plurality of cylindrical, concentric or nesting rings configured to correspond to the mechanism intended for protection; a multi-layered membrane interconnected between said concentric or nesting rings, wherein the membrane includes a composite material; and front and back flange plates attached to terminal junctures of the mechanism, between which the membrane is tensioned; and wherein the concentric or nesting rings and the multi-layered membrane are arranged to enable controlled collapse and extension of the device for effective containment of contaminants.

Systems and methods of ground testing a position and orientation measurement and control system are provided. The method includes outputting control forces and torques by a position and orientation measurement and control system (POMCS) hardware unit mounted at a tip of a robotic manipulator configured to emulate a dynamic system in a selected gravity environment; sensing accelerations and velocities of the POMCS hardware unit in response to the control forces and torques; sensing forces and moments exchanged between the tip and the POMCS hardware unit in response to the control forces and torques; correcting the sensed forces and moments using the sensed accelerations and velocities to obtain compensated forces and moments; and using the compensated forces and moments in an emulation software package to produce a simulated inertial response of the dynamic system in the selected gravity environment.

A method of autonomous anomaly detection and resolution in a remotely operated device system is provided. The method includes: performing an autonomous task with a remotely operated device in a space segment; collecting telemetry or imagery during performance of the autonomous task; providing the telemetry or imagery to an autonomy processing device; detecting an off-nominal event in the telemetry or imagery with an anomaly detection software module and sending anomalous event data to an executive runtime scripting engine; responding to the anomalous event data by automatically executing a response script for the anomalous event data by the executive runtime scripting engine to determine a command, the response script including scripting logic encoding a corrective response; sending the command from the autonomous processing device to a controller; and executing a corrective response to the anomalous event data by controlling the autonomous machine with the controller using the command.