Orbital Express

The MSFC Engineering Directorate also managed the Advanced Video Guidance System (AVGS) for Orbital Express project.

The docking mechanism, as well as the launch adapter, were designed, developed and produced by Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) Space Systems.

[10][needs update] The Orbital Express Demonstration Manipulator System (OEDMS), provided by MDA Corp., was the mission's integrated robotics solution.

It consisted primarily of a 6-DOF rotary joint robotic arm, its flight avionics (the Manipulator Control Unit or MCU) and arm vision system, two On-Orbit Replaceable Units (ORUs) and their spacecraft attachment interfaces, a visual target and grapple fixture installed on NEXTSat, and the Manipulator Ground Segment.

These operations were executed as part of mission scenarios that demonstrated complete sequences of autonomous rendezvous, capture, berthing and ORU transfer.

All robotic operations were scripted prior to execution and performed autonomously as part of increasingly complex mission scenarios.

[11] The two craft demated for a final time, with ASTRO backing out to greater than 400 km (250 mi)[12] in a test of sensor performance.