ROBOT OPERATED MATERIAL PROCESSING IN SPACE (ROMPS)
The ROMPS program is a space shuttle-based materials processing experiment that uses SCL as its master control system. The ROMPS software launched onboard Space Shuttle Discovery, Mission STS-64 in September 1994.
MISSION
The mission of ROMPS was to demonstrate commercial methods of processing semiconductor materials in a microgravity environment.
DESIGN
The current robotic design of ROMPS permits it to address a variety of commercial objectives in materials processing and automation technology. ROMPS is designed to advance microgravity processing by using a robot to transport each of a large variety of semiconductors from the storage racks to halogen lamp furnaces where their crystal structures are reformed in heating and cooling cycles.
THE FIRST
ROMPS is the first U.S. robotics system used in space. The autonomy afforded by the robotics was essential to the success of the mission. Because movement would affect the growth of the crystals and skew the experiment results, it was necessary that the experiments be performed while the astronauts slept. The onboard-embedded SCL system made decisions and controlled the robotic arm, processing more than 200 semiconductor material samples. The eleven-day mission was 100% successful. All of this while the astronauts slept.
SCL MADE THE DIFFERENCE
The SCL system on-board ROMPS flight hardware scheduled the processing activities and monitored the health and welfare of the hardware, running on an 80286 based computer onboard the vehicle onboard ROMPS flight hardware. At the ground station in Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), SCL ran on a distributed set of personal computers network and monitored the progress of the experiment. Our customer for this application was the Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM) and GFSC.
WHAT’S NEXT
The ROMPS samples were analyzed on the ground after the shuttle mission, and the results were compared to samples processed on Earth. These results will also be used to define materials and processing for planned later flights of ROMPS on future shuttle missions.
The ROMPS flight system was derived largely from the previous efforts in developing the flight software for the ARD program. The controller card, executive software, and SCL Real-Time Engine will be reused from mission to mission. ICS also developed software to communicate with the NASA Hitchhiker Interface.
OTHER OBJECTIVES
A long-term objective of ROMPS is to develop microgravity-processed semiconductor devices with sufficient performance advantages that they can be produced competitively in space.
Another objective of the ROMPS program is to advance automation and robotics for material processing in ways that can lower the costs of developing and manufacturing semiconductors. SCL advances this objective by using elements of commercial hardware and software automation products that allow a direct “spin-off” to U.S. industry.
The added cost of operations in space creates a need for in-space materials processing to have more advanced automation and robotics to increase productivity. For example, an efficient long term space facility for materials processing not only needs to have robotic materials processing, but the assembly, servicing and upgrading of the facility also needs to be done by robotics. SCL offers a higher level of automation and robotics needed for in-space materials processing that can be applied to improve the operational efficiencies of ground-based semiconductor laboratories and production facilities.
A new proximity sensor, called a Capaciflector, developed by Goddard, will be flown to aid in the alignment of the pallets to within a thousandth of an inch. By using the electric field generated by the sensors, proximity of the pallets to the furnace aperture can be measured and perfect alignment can be made without physical contact perturbing the process. Developing such a sensor-based control scheme is key to advancing space automation and robotics.
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