Canada's main contribution to the US Space Shuttle program has been the Canadian Space Agency robotic manipulator arms, Canadarm and Canadarm2.
Also called the Space Station Remote Manipulator System, the second-generation Canadarm2 helped build the International Space Station, and has been used there to support astronauts working in space, move equipment and supplies, perform maintenance, and manipulate large payloads.
The CSA has unveiled its third-generation Canadarm prototypes, known as the Next-Generation Canadarm (NGC) project. It consists of four robotic elements -- the Large Canadarm, Small Canadarm, Proximity Operations Systems Testbed, and Semi-Autonomous Docking System -- and the Missions Operations Station. The testbed comprises two industrial robotic systems that will simulate bringing two moving spacecraft within a few meters of each other. The mission operations station allows all of the NGC systems to be operated remotely. Combined, all five form a facility the CSA says will help it test and develop new mission concepts and hardware.
Click on the image below to check out the evolution of the Canadarm.
The NGC Large Canadarm is a 15m robotic arm that fits inside a minivan when its segments are telescoped together. Although its reach is as long as Canadarm2's, it is lighter and folds up more compactly to fit on future, smaller spacecraft. It will be used on Earth as a testbed to simulate arm deployment during tasks such as capturing and docking spacecraft for refueling. (Source: NASA)
Lou, thanks for telling us that you worked on one of these projects. I know what you mean about consolidation in aerospace companies. BTW, was the "MacDonald" in MDA from the old MacD-D?
Jenn, Lou is right--the arms are designed to work in zero-G environments, and are too heavy to do any lifting in Earth's 1G. "Lightweight" refers to the new NG Small Canadarm, the one that will do repairing and refueling of satellites in space.
Beth, while checking out the latest, NG Canadarm, I was looking at all the cool historical space photos. Then I started reading the caption data and realized that Canadarm, in one form or another, had been part of so many key historical events in space. That's how the idea for this slideshow was born.
Ann, this slide show brings back lots of memories. One of my last aerospace projects was working on the Canadarm2. I was with a company involved with supporting the software used to control the arm. I was at their plant and got to touch one of the shuttle arms while it was being refurbished on the ground. That was back in 1992, by the way.
On thing that was interesting is the genesis of the companies involved. I was doing a project for Spar Aerospace. MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. was a subcontractor we also worked with. Now Spar is part of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. It is funny how the consolidation in the industry happens.
Ann, The end effector used to grab hardware and spacecraft is not what normally comes to mind when one thinks of "robotic" arms (a typical mechanical gripper). Do you kno how the 3-wire snare used on all of the Canadarms came to be the standard for US space operations?
The first image of the slide show looks like the arm being tested / demonstrated. I believe the motors that move the arms are actually quite small. If I remember correctly, the arm can't really support itself in a 1-G gravity field.
Are those blue units part of the supporting rig, air-cushion supports that permit the arm to move freely in a horizontal plane?
With the photos stacked up like that, it's pretty incredible to see how far the space arm has come in terms of form, functionality, and in particular, size. Specifically, it strikes me as to how large the robotic manipulators are when viewed in the first slide in some sort of facility on earth vs. when they are viewed within the context of the vastness of outer space. Cool slide show.
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