Sending spacecraft into space, manned or unmanned, has often been accompanied by failures that can be called at best "upsetting", such as Galileo, or serious such as the Columbia shuttle. If in this state of affairs there was a tiny robot that could notice the malfunction and perform simple tasks such as pushing, pulling, cutting, soldering, etc., the situation could look different.
Yehuda Sabdarmish
Sending spacecraft into space, manned or unmanned, has often been accompanied by failures that can be called at best "upsetting", such as Galileo, or serious such as the Columbia shuttle. If in this state of affairs there was a tiny robot that could notice the malfunction and perform simple tasks such as pushing, pulling, cutting, soldering, etc., the situation could look different.
The idea that the author of the article comes to present here is the idea of sending a tiny cosmological robot - a rakaz with every delivery of a spacecraft into space.
Necessary features of the RKZ
To keep it simple, most of the operations of the RKZ will only be done by direct instruction from the mother base, and it will hardly be required to do automatic operations. The operations for which it will be required:
A. movement.
B. peripheral vision.
third. Reception, transmission.
d. Regular additional assignments.
God. Additional assignments vary.
A. movement
The RKZ movement needs to consider two main problems:
1. The possible mode of movement of the rakaz.
2. The way the RKZ is attached to its route.
1. The possible mode of movement.
A. Insect movement - movement inside the main spacecraft with the help of the "insect" movement of the rocket.
on. Jet motion - for movement in space around the main spacecraft to detect faults and repairs, as an auxiliary force during landing, etc.
third. Mechanical movement - movement of wheels or caterpillars.
Insect movement and mechanical movement will also be suitable for movement on the target planet along with the main spacecraft.
2. The manner in which the rakaz adheres to its course.
A. In a situation where gravitation does not exist, there must be a grip between the RK and the surface on which it moves. The grip does not have to be done with great force. It should prevent the RK from wandering aimlessly in the mother spacecraft. The options are magnets, electro magnets, delicate velcro surfaces and the like.
on. Because of the large forces that will operate during takeoff and landing or in any additional case that may be required, it must be possible to strengthen the rocket at certain points along its route.
third. The RCZ must be allowed access to anywhere in the mother spacecraft, including its outer shell.
The form of movement and the ability to attach must allow the rakaz to perform pushing and pulling actions with different intensities.
third. peripheral vision
A very important tool for the operation of the RKZ will be tiny cameras that will take pictures of its surroundings for the purpose of making various decisions. In their operation, the tiny cameras will have to be capable of movement. The decisions can be made automatically or by decision of the mother base.
d. reception and transmission
All the information recorded by the RKZ cameras must be transmitted to the mother spacecraft base, where they will analyze it and, as required, transmit execution instructions to the RKZ. Care must be taken that the RKZ does not pass through areas with reception/transmission masking, which could lead to the RKZ being paralyzed.
God. Regular additional assignments
The RAC should also perform additional regular operations, for example cutting, soldering, grasping, gluing, pressing, turning, cleaning mainly of the photoelectric surfaces and more.
and. Additional assignments vary
Depending on the mission of the mother spacecraft, the RCZ will be trained to do additional tasks related to the mission, such as spare parts for special devices located in the mother spacecraft, devices that will allow him to do part of the operations of the mother spacecraft in the event of a malfunction, special software, and more.
The structure of the RKZ
Its mass will be a few percent of the mass of the main spacecraft.
The RKZ will have its own energy source.
The RKZ will have a radio transmitter and a receiver to communicate with the Earth and a regular or video camera.
Also an operating computer.
The mechanical operating system of the RKZ should preferably be based on a system for micro-surgery so that you can perform operations in places that are difficult to access.
Examples:
The RCZ could have detected and prevented some of the serious mishaps in space flights:
Galileo - the problem there was the failure to open the main antenna. The RCZ had to be able to reach the antenna, photograph it, send data to Earth, and then, on instruction from Earth, try to release it with a slight push or pull.
The Hubble Telescope - This kind of rocket that will travel in the Hubble Telescope can help maintain it when no shuttle comes there, and extend its life.
Colombia - The RCZ patrolling around the ferry would most likely have discovered the malfunction. The RCZ could have helped with the rescue attempts.
Apollo 13 flight - RekZ would have located the fault and helped plan the rescue.
Spirit - Such a rocket could have landed on Mars together with Spirit and help to puncture the balloon that hindered the movement of the space vehicle on its way to Mars.
Beagle - the antenna of the RKZ could be a replacement for the antenna of the mother spacecraft and its cameras could remove the fog for what happened to the Beagle.
The Japanese spacecraft was on its way to Mars suddenly disappeared.
Unplanned missions - Rakaz, by virtue of being an independent robot, will be able to enrich space operations with unplanned missions such as landing on an occasional asteroid or satellite.
For example, it is possible that RZ in the Galileo spacecraft could have joined the comet Shumakr Levi 9 in its gallop towards Jupiter, becoming one of the main missions of the Galileo mission.
Note: Terrestrial missions - RKZim can perform countless civil and military missions also on the ground in areas where access is dangerous. For example atomic reactors, tunnels, minefields, archeology and more, but that's a matter for another article.
Idea of doubling 20-80 in the rakaz delivery
The principle on which this approach of duplication is built is the idea that is called among the administration people: 20-80 which means that in any business 80 percent of the tasks are done by twenty percent of the means.
For example: 20 percent of the products created in a certain factory cause eighty percent of the receipts.
And in our case, even though the rocket will weigh ten percent or less of the mother spacecraft, it will be able to perform tens of percent of the missions. The rocket could in the worst case be a partial replacement for the mother spacecraft.
Since some of the main spacecraft's systems are pre-duplicated, they will be able to build from the start in Barkaz while saving the weight of the main spacecraft.
The RKZ can be designed in a one-time way like a kind of off-the-shelf spaceship.
There will be several types of such off-the-shelf rocket launchers and depending on the mission they will be attached to the flight. It will always be possible to add several operating systems to the rocket launcher according to the main spacecraft mission.
RekZ will be able to take risks that it would have been better not to do with the main spacecraft.
For example, if there is a need to test new landing equipment for Mars, it should not be tried on the main spacecraft but on the RZ.
It will be possible to send more than one Markaz in each space mission.
In conclusion
Here is an idea whose cost is relatively small and the benefit of its integration into space flights is great. It is difficult for the author of the article to understand why it has not been carried out until now.
