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ACTA AERONAUTICAET ASTRONAUTICA SINICA ›› 2021, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (1): 523913-523913.doi: 10.7527/S1000-6893.2020.23913

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In-orbit assembly technology: Review

WANG Mingming1,2, LUO Jianjun1,2, YUAN Jianping1,2, WANG Jiawen1,2, LIU Cong1,2   

  1. 1. Research&Development Institute of Northwestern Polytechnical University in Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518057, China;
    2. National Key Laboratory of Aerospace Flight Dynamics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China
  • Received:2020-02-29 Revised:2020-03-22 Published:2020-06-18
  • Supported by:
    Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality (JCYJ20180508151938535); National Natural Science Foundation of China (61973256, 61690211)

Abstract: The construction demands for large space platforms and infrastructures such as space stations, space telescopes, large communication antennas, space solar power stations, in-orbit supply stations, deep space exploration stations and extraterrestrial bases, which represent national scientific and technological capability, are constantly increasing. The autonomous construction of these projects in space remains a huge challenging task. Since large space infrastructures play a significant role in future space exploration missions, various investigations have been performed by different space agencies to cope with this issue. This paper presents an overview of in-space assembly studies, systematically summarizing the research status and technological development of in-orbit assembly. The technological progress of manned and unmanned in-orbit assembly is first analyzed, and the development roadmap, assembly levels and methods of in-orbit assembly technology summarized. On this basis, the technical requirements for and application prospects of in-orbit assembly are sorted out, and the key enabling technologies of in-orbit assembly—the modular technology, robotic technology and ground simulation assembly technology are concluded, which are expected to provide useful reference for the future research of space in-orbit assembly.

Key words: in-orbit assembly, space robots, truss structure, modular technology, ground assembly verification

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