Jay Clemens
QinetiQ’s space division has won a contract from the European Space Agency to develop a soft berthing system for spacecraft to dock at the International Space Station.
The company will design and build a model for the International Berthing Docking Mechanism through 2015 before ground testing of the work begins, QinetiQ said Tuesday.
Erik Masure, managing director at QinetiQ Space, said the company intends to engineer “an active control of the relative motion of the two spacecraft†in order to reduce the forces from the berthing process.
The IBDM is intended to minimize impact and create an airtight connection between two spacecraft during the docking process.
