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On-orbit servicing, such as refueling, repairing, and orbit recovery, will be essential for space activities in the next generation for both manned and unmanned space systems. One of the most important and most difficult tasks in on-orbit servicing is capturing a ''customer satellite'' using a manipulator that can move dynamically in a wide range of space. A visual servoing technique that controls and guides the manipulator based on a camera image is required to perform this dynamic task. It is necessary to establish boundary conditions; in other words, to specify the task by assessing the environment and setting proper conditions for in order to execute it under the constraints of on-board computing power and the severe lighting conditions of space. This paper describes the design concept of a visual servoing system for a space robot and presents the results of an on-orbit experiment using Japanese Engineering Test Satellite VII (ETS-VII) that was designed based on this concept.

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Space systems have become essential elements providing services of telecommunication, earth observation and navigation to support our daily lives. With the expanding space activities, more and more satellites are being injected into wong orbits for their missions and stranded due to failures of rockets. There is a potential need to rescue them by capturing and towing them to the appropriate orbits. Manipulator capture using visual servoing is one of the most promising ways to capture a stranded satellite that does not have a special mechanical interface or a visual marker on it. A study is now being conducted to design a manipulator-based capturing system, taking into account the special aspects of space such as lighting and available computing power.The first results of an experimental study are presented with an explanation of the experimental system in this Paper.

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