There are robotic machines used by the army on the ground and in the air so that the controls must be well advanced in an environment that requires complicated control mechanisms dealing with ground and air locomotion. In contrast, locomotion control in a gravity free environment should be considerably simpler consisting of small rockets for three dimensional movement. It should be not too difficult to design an observation satelite to fly freely around the space shuttle and closely observe the skin for dangerous defects after a launch and which is retrievable and launchable at will and permit far more flexibility than a boom system with a camera. This type of robot should also be useful on the space station making extra vehicular spacewalks less necessary for inspection. Of course, more elaborate free flying robots with manipulation tools would also be very useful.

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