Automated tether management system for extravehicular activities

AbstractSafe extravehicular activity (EVA) requires astronauts to employ tethers to ensure proximity to their spacecraft. This research strives to improve EVA efficiency by allowing crew members to remotely release and retract their safety tether from extended distances using a tether management system consisting of a remotely releasable robotic gripper and a retractor that controls the length of tether. This circumvents the current need to travel back to the tether anchor and manually release the tether, which requires the crew member to travel three times further than necessary. The automated tether management system is essentially a multifunctional teleoperated robotic system that has the potential to improve EVA efficiency, reduce crew‐member fatigue, and improve efficiency of existing robots such as Robonaut. Design and performance requirements are specified to comply with current safety standards. The multifunctional gripper is designed to provide fail‐safe self‐locking positive engagement on a variety of spacecraft anchors. The retractor employs motorized and passive retraction to minimize power consumption, allow the retractor to mimic existing retractable safety tethers fu