Tag: Dextre
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Automating Robotics: CSA preparing for future with Canadarm2/Dextre
When Canadarm2 was first launched to ISS onboard Shuttle Endeavour on 19 April 2001 and installed three days later by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield and NASA astronaut Scott Parazynski, it was designed to be controlled and operated by astronauts with a primary goal of assembling of the orbiting outpost. Fast forward 19 years to today,…
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The busy life of the Space Station Robots
The Space Station’s Canadian robotic arms have enjoyed another busy month, starting with the release of a SpaceX Dragon and ending with the deployment of a microsat. The Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) – best known as Dextre – is also looking forward to NASA’s Robotic Refueling Mission 3 (RRM3), while it was recently announced that the…
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Dextre praised for aiding ISS battery upgrade
Dextre, Canada’s adventurous robot on the International Space Station (ISS), has – along with his team – been recognized by the Johnson Space Center (JSC) for the work conducted during the crucial task of upgrading the batteries on the orbital outpost. Dextre’s role helped vastly reduce the workload on his human colleagues. Dextre: With an…
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Dextre demo paving the way for robotic EVA assistance
The Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) has completed a series of tests aimed at reducing the human EVA workload involved with the installation of new batteries on the International Space Station (ISS). The impressive Canadian robot – more commonly known as “Dextre” – worked through three days of Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) demonstrations ahead of…
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CRS-5: Dextre grabs CATS from the belly of a Dragon
Canada’s multi-tasking robot, Dextre, successfully removed the CATS (Cloud-Aerosol Transport System) payload from the unpressurised trunk of the CRS-5/SpX-5 Dragon on Thursday morning. The payload was handed over to the Japanese Experiment Module, Kibo, marking the first “handover” between the Canadian robot and the JAXA arm. Dextre letting the CATS out of the bag: The latest…
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Canada’s Dextre completes payload removals from CRS-3 Dragon
Canada’s SPDM (Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator), or Dextre as it’s commonly known, has completed the removal of payloads from the Trunk of the SpaceX CRS-3 Dragon spacecraft, which recently arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) with an array of supplies and equipment. Two major payloads rode uphill in the unpressurized aft of the Dragon,…
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Russian Progress M-21M re-tests new Kurs-NA system
A Russian Progress went on a short excursion this week, resulting in a redocking to the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday. The two day free-flying trip for Progress M-21M was used to re-test the Kurs-NA system that misbehaved when the vehicle first docked to the orbital outpost last November, resulting in Oleg Kotov having to grapple…
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Japan’s HTV-4 launches supplies and science to the ISS
Japan’s venerable HTV spacecraft made its fourth launch to the ISS tonight, blasting off atop a H-IIB booster from the Tanegashima space center in Southern Japan at 7:48:46 PM GMT. HTV-4 is carrying a cargo of food, hygiene items, internal and external spare parts, and scientific experiments for the ISS and its crew. HTV-4 overview:…
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Dextre and RRM complete successful satellite refuelling demo
Aboard the International Space Station (ISS) over the past two weeks, Dextre, the Canadian “robotic hand”, and NASA’s Robotic Refuelling Mission (RRM) payload have together made history in proving a vital capability for future space exploration and utilisation – the ability to robotically refuel a satellite in the space environment. The successful demo opens new…
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ISS: Dextre and RRM complete second round of joint ops – CDRA recovered
Aboard the International Space Station (ISS) this past week, Canada’s Dextre robot and NASA’s Robotic Refuelling Mission (RRM) experiment have completed their second period of joint operations designed to demonstrate the technologies for robotic satellite servicing and refuelling in space. Meanwhile, the station’s US Lab-based Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) was successfully re-activated following a…