Ive worked on docking for many of my 6-year career at JPL, and my objective has been to make it reliable and easy– just like plugging in your phone. Getting to this point needed a lot of style and screening (consisting of docking practically 2000 times in numerous testbeds here on Earth), and its been a benefit to see docking happen effectively often times on Mars currently. Ill always be a little worried each time we gather a sample, however my fingers are crossed for a lot more successful and easy docking efforts.
Written by Sawyer Brooks, Docking Systems Engineer at NASA/JPL.
Mars Perseverance Sol 87– Left Navigation Camera: First time docking on Mars, on Sol 87 [May 18th, 2021] This image was acquired by Perserverances left navigation electronic camera quickly after the arm completed docking. The Bit Carousel is the conical object in the center of the image. Credits: NASA/JPL-CaltechEvery time we collect a rock sample on Mars, Perseverance carries out an hours-long set of thoroughly choreographed operations with its robotic arm, the coring drill, and the Adaptive Caching Assembly. Among these operations is docking: the procedure by which the arm aligns itself with the Bit Carousel on the front of the rover, so that the corer can drop off and choose up brand-new drill bits.
Docking occurs twice throughout sample collection. First, the robotic arm docks to drop off the currently-chucked abrading bit and select up a coring bit with an empty sample tube. Then, after gathering a rock sample, it docks again to drop off the coring bit with a now-filled sample tube, which will be processed, sealed, and saved by the caching assembly.
Mars Perseverance Sol 21– WATSON Camera: A summary image of the dock on the front of Perseverance, taken by the WATSON video camera on the Robotic Arm. When this image was gotten and has actually considering that been opened, a door in front of the bit carousel was still closed. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Docking works by directing a set of little posts on the end of the robotic arm into a matching set of cones on the dock. Docking works the same way. A force sensor on the end of the robotic arm informs Perseverance how hard its pressing and in which directions, and Perseverance uses this information to guide the arm into place and to identify when docking is total.
One of these operations is docking: the procedure by which the arm aligns itself with the Bit Carousel on the front of the rover, so that the corer can drop off and choose up brand-new drill bits.
Docking works by assisting a set of little posts on the end of the robotic arm into a matching set of cones on the dock. A force sensing unit on the end of the robotic arm informs Perseverance how difficult its pushing and in which instructions, and Perseverance utilizes this data to direct the arm into location and to determine when docking is total. Getting to this point required a lot of design and testing (including docking almost 2000 times in numerous testbeds here on Earth), and its been an advantage to see docking take place effectively lots of times on Mars already.