[h=1]Will this robot end the era of man in space?[/h] By Nidhi Mathew on Wednesday, July 9, 2014 ·
It seems that man’s involvement in actual space activities is getting less and less each day. This time, a robot seems to be putting an end to man’s era in space.
The ISS Canadian robotic arm, Canadarm2, is currently being fixed by another robot called Dextre. Dextre’s task is to replace old cameras with new ones and is being remotely controlled by Canada’s Space Agency.
Dextre is a multi-limbed robot with arms that are about 3m in length. It can also attach power tools as its fingers, which makes work easier.
Without the robot’s help, Astronauts would have to do the job themselves, which could be time consuming and potentially hazardous to their health. Now, the only involvement of the Astronauts’ is to push a new camera into an airlock so Dextre could grab it.
This task is the first to be done by anything other than humans which marks it as a singularly exciting feat. Mathie Caron, a CSA mission control supervisor, is excited over the prospect of using robots to do repairs on the ISS as this would reduce unnecessary spacewalks.
Now, astronauts can focus their time on more important tasks such as scientific research and reduce risks that are involved in spacewalks due to repairs.
Dextre is expected to finish the repair in about a week. It has already finished taking out the old cameras and stowing it. It is now installing new cameras in place and taking test shots.
While this is an exciting turn of events, there is still much to improve on the capabilities of robots like Dextre. There are still some functions that needs to be performed by humans.
However, this is already a big step for space technology. Soon enough, the world can expect to see robots ending the era of man in space.
Will this robot end the era of man in space? : Trending Technologies | TripleTremelo
It seems that man’s involvement in actual space activities is getting less and less each day. This time, a robot seems to be putting an end to man’s era in space.
The ISS Canadian robotic arm, Canadarm2, is currently being fixed by another robot called Dextre. Dextre’s task is to replace old cameras with new ones and is being remotely controlled by Canada’s Space Agency.
Dextre is a multi-limbed robot with arms that are about 3m in length. It can also attach power tools as its fingers, which makes work easier.
Without the robot’s help, Astronauts would have to do the job themselves, which could be time consuming and potentially hazardous to their health. Now, the only involvement of the Astronauts’ is to push a new camera into an airlock so Dextre could grab it.
This task is the first to be done by anything other than humans which marks it as a singularly exciting feat. Mathie Caron, a CSA mission control supervisor, is excited over the prospect of using robots to do repairs on the ISS as this would reduce unnecessary spacewalks.
Now, astronauts can focus their time on more important tasks such as scientific research and reduce risks that are involved in spacewalks due to repairs.
Dextre is expected to finish the repair in about a week. It has already finished taking out the old cameras and stowing it. It is now installing new cameras in place and taking test shots.
While this is an exciting turn of events, there is still much to improve on the capabilities of robots like Dextre. There are still some functions that needs to be performed by humans.
However, this is already a big step for space technology. Soon enough, the world can expect to see robots ending the era of man in space.
Will this robot end the era of man in space? : Trending Technologies | TripleTremelo
