SpaceNews by Jeff Foust — August 12, 2019
As Russia prepares to launch an experimental humanoid robot to the International Space Station later this month, a similar NASA robot is being readied for a return to the station after repairs on Earth.
In an Aug. 1 presentation at the ISS Research and Development Conference here, Jonathan Rogers, deputy project manager for Robonaut at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, said the robot will likely be flown back to the station late this year on either a Cygnus or Dragon cargo spacecraft.
“We are on the path to returning to ISS ops,†he said, with final verifications of the robot underway. A specific mission that Robonaut will be flown on hasn’t been selected, he said, noting that the robot is “subject to prioritization†with other cargo destined for the station.
Robonaut 2, as the robot is formally known, flew to the station in 2011 on one of the final shuttle missions. The robot performed a series of tests to demonstrate how a robot could work alongside astronauts on the station. However, Robonaut 2 started to experience problems in 2014, shortly after astronauts added a pair of legs to the robot’s torso.
“Our processor stopped responding during a software upgrade session,†Rogers said. Rebooting the robot fixed the problem temporarily, but the problem kept occurring. “Eventually we got to the point where these processors wouldn’t boot at all.â€
More:
https://spacenews.com/robonaut-to-return-to-iss/
