INSPECTOR AND THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

The Inspector Spacecraft is a small free-flying inspection and servici ng vehicle intended to be used in the International Space Station scen ario. The baseline Inspector programme, with industrial partnership of Dasa, RSC-Energia and Rockwell International is geared for a first mi ssion in early 1997, demonstrating Inspector's observation and visual navigation capabilities through a fly-around inspection of Progress an d Mir. The potential of an operational Inspector within the Internatio nal Space Station scenario is being assessed for a number of interesti ng applications: as a free-flying camera for auxiliary viewing, for EV A enhancement, for measurements of the space environment and its effec ts in the vicinity of the Space Station as well as for developing tech nologies and operational techniques in visual navigation and rendezvou s and proximity operations. In addition to the Inspector-Mir mission a Shuttle retrieval mission would significantly contribute to the valid ation of the Inspector concept for the International Space Station and would mitigate the risk for the operational phase. This paper address es the mission and design of an operational Inspector for the Internat ional Space Station and the wide spectrum of applications in technolog y and science. The implementation plan for an operational Inspector wi ll be outlined together with a life cycle cost model. Copyright (C) 1 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd