The Sentential of Dextre Now Stands Erect
“The labors of men of genius, however erroneously directed, scarcely ever fail in ultimately turning to the solid advantage of mankind.’” …quote from Frankenstein.
Dextre, a maintenance robot who appears as a grotesque tinman from Wizard of Oz yet will save many lives and hardships for the crew of the ISS, is the third and final component of Canada’s robotic arm on the International Space Station, a vital contribution not only to the station but also to support the CSA’s Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM), or the Dextre robot. Two dedicated astronauts, Rick Linnehan and Robert Behnken, patiently put together the robot assembly in a series of spacewalks, while attaching a spare-parts platform. With a crow bar and back-breaking efforts, Dextre was not an easy task for the crew of the ISS.
The newly attached arms of Dextre has been put through a series of tests, upon being joined to the Remote Manipulator System. After this, a permanent position on the outside of the Destiny laboratory module is located. But what is important is the highly- detailed tasks upon which the crewmembers of the station will rely on through the gigantic robot. Controlled by joysticks, either inside the ISS or manipulated by ground controllers on Earth, the 1.56 ton robot has the ability to replace small components on the station’s exterior that up until now had required the astronaut’s human touch. Each “hand” has grippers that are retractable, allowing them to grab equipment and tools while also carrying a retractable motorized socket wrench, a camera, and a light for working on the outside.
What makes Dextre human-like is the ability of the upper torso to swivel at the waist, with designed arms that have seven joints to provide the most maximum versatility. Umbilical connectors provide power and data connectivity. All in all, a fine job from Canada. But other things are equally as important on the ISS, such as the newly expanded laboratory being developed with Japan’s new Kibo addition, and the European Columbus laboratory. Japan’s prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, called the Japanese astronaut Takao Doi to congratulate him on the new adition. The Japanese compartment was adorned with the Japanese flag in addition to Doi’s boomerang for the boomerang-throwing experiment that will be videoed for the prime minister.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 at 4:40 pm and is filed under 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.
