Important Innovations Collection

Fedor in Orbit Seeking ISS Source:  Russian Space Agency Roscosmos - Fedor Spacebot Docking at ISS Aborted Today Russia's first humanoid robot Fedor or Skybot F850 is travelling in space aboard an unmanned spacecraft to the International Space Station.  The Russian Soyez spacecraft tried to dock with the ISS to deliver Fedor today but the docking was aborted.  Russian cosmonauts issued the order to abort the approach to the ISS because the Soyez wasn't on target to properly lock-on. The Russian space agency says the approach did not cause any safety issues for the ISS or astronauts onboard. Second Try on Tuesday The crewless, automated Soyez backed away safely and Russian flight controllers are determining next steps.  They believe the problem was a radio failure aboard the ISS not the Soyez.  The Director of the Russian space agency Roscosmos says they'll try again to dock on Tuesday morning. Fedor, Astronauts' Assistant Once on board...

To Roam the Moon, Mars and Asteroids Source:  ETH Zurich Dynamic Walking & Flight Phases The Spacebot, a quadruped robot, was created by students at the ETH Zurich and ZHAW Zurich, Switzerland.  It's designed to travel in low gravity environments like the Moon, asteroids and Mars.  It travels by "Dynamic Walking" similar to the travel methods used by the original lunar explorers, the Apollo 11 crew, who used a hopping gait in the low gravity environment of the Moon, 50 years ago. Dynamic Walker The bot travels by leaping.  All four legs leave the ground and leap to heights over six feet.  This allows for full flight phases with all legs off the ground.  The lower the gravity the longer the flying time.  The Spacebot is currently being tested at the European Space Agency (ESA). The Swiss team says the robot basically behaves like a mini-spacecraft.  They add, this type of dynamic walking is more efficient and saves energy in low gra...