EuroSim Applications - Mission Preparation and Training Equipment (MPTE) for the European Robotic Arm (ERA)

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ERA Mission Preparation and Training Equipment (MPTE)

Objective

The European Robotic Arm (ERA) will be used for assembly operations and servicing support on the Russian segment of the ISS. These operations will be prepared, planned and supported from the MPTE, and operators will be trained with it. The MPTE includes for this purpose real-time simulations and realistic 3D visualisation.

Context

The MPTE has been developed by NLR to support ERA system operations and training. For mission preparation the MPTE contains workstations where the planning of the robotic arm movements can be setup and reviewed. For training a setup is available where the astronaut can operate the command console while standing in front of a large realistic visualisation. The system is operational in three locations:

Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC), Starcity
Rocket Space Company/Energia (RSC/E), Moscow
ESTEC, Noordwijk

Mission Preparation of ERA operations using MPTE

Role of EuroSim

The MPTE reuses the ERA Simulation Facility (ESF) that was developed for engineering and verification of the ERA arm. The MPTE uses EuroSim Mk2.4 on SGI computers to execute the real-time simulations. The Eurosim Image Generation System has been used to establish the visualisation capability, running on SGI Onyx computers.