Fine motor tasks under space conditions are particularly challenging and must first be trained on Earth. Scientists from the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) are investigating whether a robotic exoskeleton that can simulate weightlessness is suitable for astronautical training.

The team had the opportunity to participate in the 42nd DLR Parabolic Flight Campaign in Bordeaux, France, to compare the effects of simulated weightlessness with those of real weightlessness.

During space missions, astronauts are often faced with fine motor tasks, such as performing repairs or experiments, that are made more difficult by the weightlessness of space. Targeted training of these skills is particularly important, not only to increase the efficiency of the missions, but also to ensure the safety of the astronauts. Until now, such missions could only be practiced on Earth during parabolic flights or in spacesuits underwater.

Innovative space training with exoskeleton

Scientists at the DFKI Robotics Innovation Center Bremen and the Department of Medical Engineering Systems at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) are working on an alternative and more cost-effective training method.

Proba-3 is ESA's—and the world's—first precision formation flying mission. A pair of satellites will fly together relative to the sun so that one casts a precisely-controlled shadow onto the other, to create a prolonged solar eclipse in orbit.