NASA docking system

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The NASA Docking System (NDS) is a coupling mechanism for spacecraft . It is the successor to the Low Impact Docking System ( LIDS ) and compatible with the International Docking System Standard (IDSS).

function

According to the IDSS, the NDS is an androgynous coupling system in which both sides are identical. One side takes on the active role, while the other acts passively. The adapter enables the exchange of crew, cargo, power and data. The diameter of the passage for the crew is about 80 cm.

Development history

LIDS

Low-impact docking system

The Low Impact Docking System was developed by Monty Carroll, Ray Morales, Thang Le and James Lewis as part of the Advanced Docking Berthing System Project at the Johnson Space Center . The group worked for eight years on the coupling mechanism for the X-38 Crew Return Vehicle, which was stopped in 2002 . Then it was used in the 2000s within the Constellation program , with the Crew Exploration Vehicle , later renamed Orion .

In form and function, the LIDS is reminiscent of the Soviet / Russian APAS-89 system , which is in use on the International Space Station . But it is not compatible with this one. LIDS is smaller, lighter and requires less force to trigger the coupling mechanism than APAS-89. The mechanism itself is patented.

In 2009, the so-called Soft Capture Mechanism (SCM) was attached to the Hubble space telescope as part of the STS-125 space shuttle mission . It was a LIDS adapter, but without the function of a passage. The adapter is intended to allow easier docking for later missions, be it for renewed maintenance or disposal.

IDSS, iLIDS and SIMAC

In October 2010 the International Docking System Standard (IDSS) was published under the public domain . This created an internationally uniform standard within which every institution or private space company can design its adapter. On the US side, the LIDS system was then further developed and made compatible with the IDSS. This led to the name iLIDS (international Low Impact Docking System) under the umbrella name NASA Docking System (NDS).

In 2012, NASA decided to phase out its own work on the adapter in the Johnson Space Center and instead use the Boeing SIMAC design ( Soft Impact Mating and Attenuation Concept ) developed by Boeing as the NASA docking system . SIMAC is also compatible with IDSS.

commitment

The NASA docking system is used on the International Space Station , among others . In 2016, the International Docking Adapter (IDA) was the first to convert an APAS-95 coupling socket on one of the Pressurized Mating Adapters to the IDSS standard or the NDS system. In 2019 the first docking of a spaceship, a Dragon 2 on the SpX-DM1 mission, took place.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Patent US6354540 : Androgynous, Reconfigurable Closed Loop Feedback Controlled Low Impact Docking System With Load Sensing Electromagnetic Capture Ring. ‌
  2. ↑ Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4 - The Soft Capture and Rendezvous System. NASA, accessed January 11, 2019 .
  3. ↑ NASA Decides to Adopt Boeing SIMAC Design for Docking and Is Retiring the iLIDS Design. SpaceRef, November 14, 2012, accessed January 12, 2019 .

swell

  • James L. Lewis: Advanced Docking Berthing System . Ed .: NASA. (English, universityaffairs.jsc.nasa.gov [PDF; accessed on May 18, 2008]).
  • James L. Lewis, Monty B. Carroll: Prototype Low Impact Docking System . Ed .: NASA. (English, archive.org [PDF; accessed on May 18, 2008]).