Posted April 27, 2001
The current mission to the International Space Station highlights the stalwart contribution of one of the 'unsung' partners in the project - Canada. The new generation Canadarm is a precursor to the further expansion of the Station, and testimony to Canadian expertise in robotics and space technology. Jennifer Laing examines the crucial role Canada is playing in the shift towards international space cooperation.
The last few months have seen some of the 'unsung' partners in the International Space Station project take their turn in the spotlight. The Italian Space Agency has supplied the Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules 'Leonardo' and 'Raffaello', which have helped to move cargo to and from the Station, including the first scientific experiments to be carried out by successive crews. They have also signed an agreement with NASA to supply the Habitation Module, which looked like being scrapped due to U.S. budgetary constraints. Now it's the Canadian Space Agency's turn to contribute to what Shuttle Flight Director John Shannon recently described as "the waterfall of activities that you have to get right" to keep the Station's assembly sequence on track.
Canadarm 2, the Space Station's new robotic arm, which current resident astronaut Susan Helms referred to as "a large cherry-picker," was brought to Alpha last week in the Space Shuttle Endeavour's cargo bay. Accompanying it was the crew of STS-100, including Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who enthusiastically speaks of the need for an extra 'pair of hands' on the Station:
"The arm on the Shuttle isn't long enough to reach the whole Space Station. And so, you need the capability to be able to reach down into the payload bay of the Shuttle, pick out a big, new piece of the Station, then trundle the whole length of the Station and install it somewhere else. And the Station's now getting big enough that it's time to bring up the arm . . . The primary purpose [of our mission] is to bring up this huge, new robotic arm, unfold it, bolt it together, hook up the wiring, and bring it to life so that it becomes a permanent part of the Space Station."
Without Canadarm 2, for example, the Station's new airlock could not be installed next month. As Hadfield explains, "The airlock will come to . . . the Space Station in the back of the Shuttle. And with the size of the Space Station when it gets there, the arm of the Shuttle can't lift that airlock up high enough and get it properly installed around the starboard side [of Alpha]." This test of the arm will be a "proving ground," says Hadfield, "because, of course, it'll be counted on to build the rest of the Station in the years that follow."
Stretching 57.7 feet when fully extended, the 'new generation' robotic arm is about 7 feet longer than the Shuttle's arm, which was also contributed by the Canadians. Canadarm 2 will be able to move about three times more mass than the Shuttle arm, which represents a mass greater than a 100 tonne Space Shuttle! Prior to the STS-100 mission, Chris Hadfield described the new robotic arm's dexterity and innovative features, which NASA says will allow it to "move end-over-end about the Station's exterior, in inchworm fashion, using either end to manipulate cargos."
"The big difference between the Station arm and the Shuttle arm is that [the former] basically has a hand at each end. The Shuttle arm is very much like my own arm, with a shoulder, an elbow, a wrist, and then something to grab. When the people designed the Shuttle arm, they just looked at their own arm and thought, "This is a good design," and basically mechanized that. Well the Station is big enough that if you always fix the shoulder at one place, you really limit yourself. So, they wanted to give it the capability to be able to grab somewhere and then grab somewhere else with the other end of the arm, and then walk around."
It will also obviate some of the need for spacewalks in future assembly of the Station, which are expensive to mount and potentially put human lives at risk.
With the formal title of the Space Station Remote Manipulator System, Canadarm 2 is just one element of the Canadian Mobile Servicing System, which also includes the Mobile Remote Servicer Base System, a work platform and storage area. Even the 'hand' is, strictly speaking, known as the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator. It's an impressive package which reinforces the Canadian Space Agency's reputation as advanced robotics experts. According to the manager of the Canadian Space Station Program, Alain Dubeau, the same engineers who designed the Canadarm robotics built 'Dino the Dinosaur' at Universal Studios, whose movable eyes, 'dripping' nose and over twenty moving joints make him a popular tourist attraction.
Dubeau is proud of Canada's contribution towards the International Space Station Program. His vision of the future of spaceflight is a cooperative one. "If we keep doing space exploration, I believe we need to do it as a planet." Hadfield agrees. The STS-100 crew is the most diverse international crew ever flown on the Space Shuttle, with representatives of space programs from the United States, Russia, Europe and Canada. "For the first time in history, we are really doing something as Earthlings." Hadfield, the first Canadian to walk in space, also talks in glowing terms of Canada's role in the development of the Space Station. He believes that the Canadarm, with "Canada written on the side of it and a maple leaf . . . has become very much a symbol of technological success for Canada."
"You can't build a space station without the Canadarm. So, Canadians take pride in that. And I'm extremely proud, as a Canadian, to be the person that's trusted to go up and put this thing together."
While the Canadian Space Agency or CSA has only been in existence since 1989, Canada has a long history of involvement in space, being the third country to launch a satellite in 1962. The CSA says that its space activities generate over a billion dollars in revenue annually, and encompass everything from microgravity experiments and environmental monitoring, to satellite communications. Marc Garneau, who visited the Station late last year and is now Executive Vice-President of the CSA, became the first Canadian astronaut to journey into space in 1984. The CSA boast that more Canadians have flown in space than any other nation outside the United States and Russia. Aside from Hadfield, there are five Canadian astronauts eligible for flight.
Ironically, another country with a long history of involvement in space activities has chosen, to date, to opt out of the International Space Station project, and no longer maintains its own space agency. Australia was the fourth nation to launch a satellite from its home territory and played a key role in the Apollo moon landings by providing tracking data from its radio telescopes at Parkes and Honeysuckle Creek. Since these impressive beginnings, Australia's space effort can be characterised as having a great deal to offer the world, but, unlike the Canadians, failing to make the most of opportunities to develop this potential to the full.
Australia's greatest involvement in space science is still in the areas of astronomy and deep-space tracking. The Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex is being used as the clearest point of radio contact with the recently launched Mars Odyssey spacecraft in the southern hemisphere, and Australian scientists are respected worldwide for their ongoing contribution to astronomical research. Support for human space flight and exploration is another matter. The only Australian-born astronaut currently part of NASA's astronaut corps, Dr. Andy Thomas, had to become a U.S. citizen to qualify (he has since regained his Australian citizenship) and does not receive any funding for his activities from the Australian Government. He has been critical of Australia's failure to become involved in international space projects such as Space Station Alpha, which he says would generate employment and technology spinoffs, as well as acting as an inspiration to young people.
Thomas is no stranger to the complexity of Canadian space technology, having used the Shuttle's robotic arm last month to manipulate the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module or MPLM, berthing it to the side of the Station's Unity Node and returning it to the Shuttle's cargo bay prior to the flight home. He described some of the challenges of using the arm in a pre-flight interview.
"You actually have to follow a sort of a curved trajectory or you can run into problems with the arm and what are called singularities in the joints. It's where you're trying to move the joints the wrong way."
U.S. astronaut Scott Parazynski, assisted by Italian astronaut Umberto Guidoni, representing the European Space Agency, will perform the same task on STS-100 with the Raffaello MPLM.
Canada's involvement in international space efforts highlights its track record of achievement in, and commitment to, space research and technology. Completion of the assembly of Space Station Alpha would not be able to take place without the participation of smaller partners such as the Canadians, who have supplied know-how, manpower and vision to the mix. As Dubeau puts it, "It's a huge team, and every day we're making history."
Jennifer Laing is a freelance space writer from Melbourne, Australia.