Netherlands gets first space handshake ISS – De Morgen

The ESA has developed two joysticks that precisely follow each other. If one moves, the other does too. Users feel that.

The technique has a practical purpose. Manned space travel to the surface of Mars in the coming decades because not feasible. It is much easier to get astronauts into orbit around the planet spinning. From there they can operate unmanned explorers on the surface. If the scout pushes a rock, the astronaut feels in his joystick. He or she can just put enough power and so do scrutiny.

To enable the experiment, the signal should go quickly back and forth. The movement of the joystick in the ISS went through a satellite at 36,000 km altitude for the flight controllers in Houston and from there to Noordwijk. Return lasted 0.8 seconds, according to the ESA.