Development of Wire Actuation 2 Stage Extension Mechanism Considering to Use for Spacecraft

Extension mechanism is attracting attention to use for capturing mechanism of the active debris removal spacecraft. Authors developed the debris capturing end effector consist of multiple wire action 2 stage extension mechanism. This mechanism is selected because of its high extension ratio, fast extending speed, high stiffness and retry capability using single motor. This end effector and mechanism's experimental results showed that it satisfies the requirements. However, this mechanism is not yet evaluated to use in space environment. In this study, wire actuation 2 stage extension mecha- nism's movement is discussed, and equation of motion is proposed to discuss which data to be acquired to evaluate the mechanism to use in space. The device to obtain the data is introduced, and experimental results shows that the introduced device can well acquire the data. Experiment inside the vacuum chamber is also conducted, and the results showed that this mechanism can be used in space environment.