KIPR has been develop ing an automated docking system to be tested on the Ranger Spacecraft, scheduled to be launched in 1998. The docking system will use a custom version of the Cognachrome color tracker dev eloped by Newton Labs. A three dimensional color beacon is used along with the vision system to allow the spacecraft to determine its position and orientation in all six degrees of freedom from a single camera imag e. The spacecraft can then servo off of the image to station keep or go through a docking maneuver. This system performed well in trials on Scamp, a neutral buoyancy telerobot developed a t the University of Maryland's Space System Lab.
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