NASA takes 'robotic hotel' to the international space station

According to NASA.gov, on the next delivery to the International Space Station, there is something that NASA calls a "hotel for robots" with the official name of the Robotic Tool Stowage (robot tool store). This warehouse is organized according to space requirements.

The robot tool store (RiTS) , sent by NASA to ISS on December 4 on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, can be considered a garage for autonomous vehicles in open space. But if we consider guests to be robots, then "hotel" is a very fitting name.

Robots and robotic tool stores are posted on the ISS - (Photo: NASA).

In fact, this is a garage that is protected for robots, which warms and protects them from the potential dangers of space - primarily radiation and the accidental intrusion of small meteorites or debris. office.

The first guests of the hotel will be two Robotic External Leak Locator (RELL) robots. Their mission is to look for leaks in the orbit station cooling system. Previously, during inactivity, they were inside the ISS, but there was not enough space. Realizing this, NASA engineers developed RiTS, which frees up some space for scientific and astronaut equipment.

In addition, RELL robots need to calibrate extremely sensitive gas analyzers before starting work and the process takes 12 hours. Previously, between detecting a leak and sending a robot on a mission it would take weeks or even months. Now, with the introduction of a hotel outside the ISS, preparation time can be shortened.

Everything will only depend on the help of another robot - Dextre robot - take the Robotic External Leak Locator from the hotel and send it on a mission. After receiving the cargo, the astronauts on the ISS will go out into space and install RiTS on a robotic platform to move the Dextre arm on the tracks.

In the future, NASA plans to use similar hotels for robots at Gateway Moon Station.