ANALOG-1 ISS – The first part of an analogue mission to guide ESA’s robotic moon exploration efforts

Abstract The European Space Agency’s ANALOG-1 experiment is the culmination of 12 distinct METERON experiments carried out since 2011. These all address aspects of teleoperating a robotic asset from an orbital platform, i.e., technical implementation, user interfaces, autonomy and operations. The ANALOG-1 technology demonstration and operations concept experiment is based upon the surface mission scenario segment of the notional EL3 sample return mission. This segment focuses on the control of a lunar surface robotic asset from the Earth and from the Lunar Gateway. The experiment is taking place in two parts, with the first successfully completed from the ISS in November 2019. It assessed the effectiveness of a state-of-the-art robotic control interface to control a complex mobile robot from orbit, as well as evaluating the scientific interactions, during robotic-assisted geology exploration, between crew in orbit and scientists on the ground. Luca Parmitano operated the robot while he was on the ISS. For this experiment, a complex control station had been installed on the ISS. The experiment demonstrated the advantage of having an immersive control station and high level of robotic dexterity, with Luca finishing all his assigned and secondary geology targets ahead of time.