Initial Japanese Component Unloaded at ISS
Even though the gigantic Canadian Dextre robot assembly was not successful due to power problems during the first launch, the Japan Kibo laboratory was successfully lifted on the top of the International Space Station with the space shuttle’s robotic arm. The two astronauts in charge of the first spacewalk, Mission Specialist Rick Linnehan and Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman, had unloaded the unit from the space shuttle’s cargo bay while Commander Dominic Gorie and Japanese astronaut Takao Doi lifted the unit with the space shuttle’s robotic arm onto the orbital outpost, a temporary home for the 4.2 ton logistics module.
The Japanese module was attached to the top of the Harmony module by attached bolts, secured at 4:06 am Thursday morning. At a later date, the module will be moved in order to serve as a storage space on top of the Kibo, which is the main portion of the entire component to be delivered in late May. Extremely proud of their Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency’s design, Japan’s new Kibo laboratory is a micro-gravity research facility, which will open up an entire new field for their country into deeper space exploration.
Gaining a prominent foothold into the International Space Station, along with the United States, Russia, and Europe, Kibo will stand beside the European Columbus Laboratory that was delivered in February. The advantage of this type of laboratory-setting will be the ability of the astronauts to work and conduct experiments in plain old shirt sleeve outfits, instead of bulky outdoor astronaut suits.
Once the Japanese module was attached, the outside spacewalkers moved to another ISS area and installed two new components of the Dextre, the Canadian robotic arm. These components are “Orbital Replacement Unit tool change out mechanisms,” which were designed to latch onto payloads or tools, according to the NASA officials.
The name Dextre is not a new one to the world, as it is part of the world of bionic limb replacements, with fast advances in human-to-machine communication and miniaturization bringing technology right next door. Invented by Rutgers biomedical and inventor William Craelius, the Dextra artificial hand is the first to let a person using existing nerve pathways to control individual computer-driven mechanical fingers. An overview of the bionics in “the Bionic Man-Restoring Mobility” by Craelius is in the international journal “Science” on February 8, 2008.
“Finally, users who subject themselves to brain implantation of hundreds of electrodes are not going to want bulky plastic sockets for their new bionic limbs,” he said. “Creating a more natural integration between the limb and existing bone is going to be vitally important. A human feel is a crucial part of bionic restoration.”
This entry was posted on Friday, March 14th, 2008 at 7:40 am and is filed under Public Relations, Space Agency News, Technical Concerns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
