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Russians Sending Terminator Robot to the Space Station!

#1
Yazata Offline
Guess what the Russians sent to the Space Station today. A terminator robot guaranteed to give any astronaut nightmares.

WE are in command now!


[Image: maxresdefault.jpg]
[Image: maxresdefault.jpg]



Video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_conti...huytqeLKaU

It's being sent in a Soyuz capsule, but apparently it will be riding alone. (If you were an astronaut, would you want to be in a capsule with ... that?)

The official reason why FEDOR is riding alone is that the Soyuz booster it's riding is an otherwise untested upgrade of the old Soyuz and the Russians didn't want to fly humans on it until it has been tested. (It's the old Soyuz, except with a new flight control system and computers.) But they don't need to be so scrupulous with robots.

(When SpaceX wanted to test its new Crew Dragon capsule, it sent Little Earth. When the Russians wanted to test their new Soyuz upgrade, they sent a villain from a bad science fiction movie.)

https://www.euronews.com/2019/08/22/watc...new-rocket

The Russians call their robot FEDOR. (Not Arnold.)

Like all terminators, it's good with a gun:


[Image: uploads%252Fcard%252Fimage%252F448216%25...zonaws.com]
[Image: uploads%252Fcard%252Fimage%252F448216%25...zonaws.com]



I like our cubical American space-bees better.
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#2
Yazata Offline
Here's a 6 minute music video about Fedor from Roscosmos. It's actually pretty good. Entertaining.

https://twitter.com/roscosmos/status/116...6991942656

Apparently Fedor is controlled in real time telepresence by human operators with virtual reality gear. (I wonder how autonomous it can be.) It appears clumsy and not very coordinated. It's also smaller than the photos make it seem. (Not as scary.)

I wonder if Fedor will function in outer space. If so, perhaps they could send it outside if astronauts in spacesuits encounter difficulties and require rescuing. Or they could send it out to do simple repairs on the outside of the space station and not risk a human. I can imagine a crew of these robots doing the heavy battery replacement job that Astroannimal and other crew members were doing a couple of months ago. The astronauts were outside a lot in the last couple of days as well, installing a new docking adapter for Crew Dragons and the Boeing Starliner. Fedor(s) could do that too. (Maybe.)

Fedor even has its own twitter page:

https://twitter.com/fedor37516789

And of course, when the aliens inevitably attack...

https://twitter.com/drogozin/status/8529...24?lang=en

I like that... Fedor can shoot pistols with both hands, but its decision-making algorithms are still being improved... reassuring.

Here's Fedor arriving at the Space Station:

https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/stat...2840607745
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#3
Yazata Offline
The Soyuz with Fedor aboard has aborted its attempt to dock with the Space Station. The Russian Kurs docking system that enables the capsule to home in on its docking port didn't work properly. Working through all the diagnostics, it appears that the problem is on the Station side. (It's not Fedor's fault!) So they are going to replace an amplifier and try again in 24 or 48 hours.

A snippet from this evening's NASA live feed of the arrival describing the problem

https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/stat...0320544768

Fedor's spacecraft is stationkeeping a safe distance away from the Station, waiting for word on when it can approach. Here's a shot of the Station from its on-board camera. One good thing about being a robot is that you don't get impatient.


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[Image: ECthyEXXsAAMPxA?format=jpg&name=small]

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#4
Yazata Offline
I guess that the amplifier idea didn't work. About half an hour ago Dmitry Rogozin (Roscosmos director) tweeted that the plan is that on Monday they will "manually" move the Soyuz currently at a good docking port to the docking port that failed last night. Apparently that port's approach system failed last time too (it still should produce a good seal even if the computer controlled approach doesn't work), so the last Soyuz went to the other Russian docking port. So now they will move that earlier Soyuz to the misbehaving docking port to free up the good one once again for the new vehicle to approach.

Rogozin says tomorrow (Sunday) will be devoted to the Russian flight engineer Alexander Skvortsov practicing manually controlling the Soyuz with a simulator on the Station. On Monday they will move it from one port to another. And on Tuesday, Fedor's Soyuz will dock using the automatic system.

https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/stat...6929581057

https://twitter.com/Rogozin

It sounds like the launch abort last night was kind of scary. The Soyuz was behaving erratically, it couldn't get a lock on the station, then they lost video and couldn't see the vehicle visually. So they issued a manual abort because it's too dangerous to have an out-of-control spacecraft blundering around near the Space Station. That told the Soyuz to back off and maintain station a safe distance away.

They are talking about moving a Soyuz manually, but apparently moving a Soyuz manually isn't nearly as easy as it sounds.

Here's an interesting account of the Soyuz control system by one of the Russians who designed it:

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index....ic=46594.0
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#5
Yazata Offline
It looks like the Russians won't be flying the parked Soyuz by remote control from docking port to docking port tomorrow (Moscow time) to free up the docking port that still has a good automatic docking system so Fedor's capsule can come in and dock. The Russians are going to pile into the parked capsule, fire it up and actually ride it on its short little journey.

https://twitter.com/Space_Station/status...3853536256

NASA will apparently be streaming it live here, starting at 11:00 PM EDT tonight.

https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive
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#6
Yazata Offline
NASA TV is on. Three astronauts are in the parked Soyuz and currently doing pressurization checks.

The plan is to move from where Soyuz MS-13 is plugged in this image


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[Image: index.php?action=dlattach;topic=46456.0;...9243;image]



To where it's plugged in this image


[Image: 1579246.jpg]
[Image: 1579246.jpg]



The (very good) NASA narrator says that all of the Russian docking ports are equipped with the Kurs docking systems. The capsules also have them. They are supposed to exchange data back and forth as capsules approach to dock, to determine orientations, rates and guide computer controlled maneuvers. But the system on one of the docking ports isn't working and without it, the guidance computer on the capsule doesn't know what to do.

The unmanned Russian Progress cargo capsules have a remote control feature so that they can be flown manually by astronauts on the Station if the automatic Kurs system fails. But the manned Soyuz's aren't equipped to be flown by remote control since it's assumed the pilot on board would take over control. Hence the need for astronauts to be aboard in this maneuver to change parking places.

Edit: they've successfully undocked and pulled away about 30 meters from the station.

Very slow and graceful movement away from the one docking port up and over to the other. Now they are approaching it at a very slow rate.

Edit 2: Successful docking. Now a protracted period when seals are established and tested, before the astronauts can reenter the Station.

https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/stat...6749124609

The narrator says that Soyuz MS 14, the capsule with the robot Fedor aboard, is following behind the Station about 150 miles away. It will begin catching up and should dock tomorrow morning.
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#7
C C Offline
(Aug 24, 2019 01:40 AM)Yazata Wrote: . . . Apparently Fedor is controlled in real time telepresence by human operators with virtual reality gear. (I wonder how autonomous it can be.) It appears clumsy and not very coordinated.


Unlike one of its Russiian namesakes, can definitely rule out mixed martial arts competititons for it.
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#8
Yazata Offline
Fedor was practicing with an electric drill today. Perhaps he mistook it for a gun.

https://twitter.com/FEDOR37516789/status...0522380290

The Russian reads (courtesy of Google translate):

"Good day! Today we carried out a series of works with on-board tools that may be needed for extra-ship activities. Work with the electric drill took place under the constant supervision of Alexei Nikolayevich Ovchinin"

The reference to "extra-ship activities" suggests that Fedor is indeed intended to operate outside the Station in space.
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