Abstract :
[en] The resources of space offer a means to enable sustainable exploration of the Moon and Solar System beyond, thus developing space resource technologies is becoming a major topic for space-related activity internationally. However, verifying and validating such systems on Earth conditions is challenging due to the difficulty of filling the sim2reality gap by creating the exact environment. We hypothesize that having on-ground experimental facilities that integrate high-fidelity simulation and physical systems will enable close-to-real testing, speeding up the transition between space technology development and deployment stages.
NVIDIA Omniverse recently gained interest to create photorealistic environments, and it is a promising tool to simulate space-related scenarios with high fidelity. Physically accurate and faithful on-orbit scenarios could be generated in Omniverse Create by integrating PhysX physics core and Pixar Universal Scene Description. Omniverse also includes a robotic simulator that connects to physical robotic systems. Various connectors between Omniverse and other platforms such as Unreal Engine, Blender, Autodesk, ParaView, and online collaboration capacity offer the possibility of importing models of space mission components, space scenes, and scientific data into Omniverse. NVIDIA Omniverse seems auspicious in terms of developing high-fidelity photorealistic simulations.
In the HELEN project between SpaceR and Spacety, we are developing a close-to-real testing environment for validating debris removal technology. Within this project, we will explore the potential of Omniverse to integrate virtual and physical components, i.e., high-fidelity photorealistic on-orbit simulations with the Zero-G lab facility, for creating reliable testing conditions to reduce the sim2reality gap. SIL and HIL testing architectures for space systems will be developed using software such as MATLAB/Simulink. Moreover, the robotic systems of the Zero-G lab can be linked to the Omniverse’s robotic simulator using its ROS & ROS2 bridge. The figure presents an overview of Omniverse under the scope of the HELEN project.
HELEN will show the combination of photorealistic simulations using Omniverse, SIL, and HIL with the Zero-G lab creates a high-fidelity testing environment for future space resources technology. We also believe that the number of human-made objects orbiting the Earth constitutes a great potential for the recovery of their resources. Most of those include valuable materials (Aluminum, Gold, Silver). Therefore, in the future, debris mitigation efforts can target the recovery of such resources, as pointed out in [1].
Reference:[1] Frank Koch, The Value of Space Debris (2021), 8th European Conference on Space Debris
