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Canadarm Company Bidding on Hubble Repair
mhotchin writes "The Globe and Mail says that NASA has evaluated all the submissions for a robot repair mission to Hubble, and the only bid requested is from the Canadian company that developed the Canadarm. It appears they would copy the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator ('Dexter'), developed for ISS, as the main unit for the repairs."
If ever there was a company to lend an arm to the repairs...
On the other hand, I hear they know nothing about hockey, so they're not all good...
The world's only surviving livewriter.
"Sure, we can fix your satellite for ya, eh, but it'll cost ya two cases and season box seats for hockey."
-Adam
Now that the USA is on the decline, it's up to the other countries to pick up the slack. Somebody needs to be a beacon of progress and exploration.
First they offer an X prize like contest now they give out this job, has NASA stopped trying to put out original work in favor of sposoring others?
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. -Aldous Huxley
Why re-invent the wheel?
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
Had to be said. (for those who don't know, Dexter is this crazy mad-scientist kid on a Cartoon Network show).
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
Go figure, NASA decides to abandon the ISS once the USA's commitment is finished, and somehow, the science used to build the ISS due to international collaboration just might save one of our most invaluable satellite telescopes. I think as long as something is done to save the HST for a few more years, we're in excellent shape. FYI -- the HST is the only instrument that can observe the lyman alpha/beta/gamma/etc. emission lines from the furthest galaxies (z >= 7)... despite all the redshifting, the James Webb Space Telescope won't be able to observe the most powerful of emission lines as the HST still can!
It won't be for this launch, or even the next one, but hopefully Canada will soon have companies making launch vehicles:
The da Vinci Project and Canadian Arrow are showing great potential!
Hubble breaks again? It seems to me like it would be more worth our time to just use the hubble as target practice (get the bb guns kids!) rather than spend more taxpayer's money to salvage a dying satellite. Making a new, better satellite or simply pointing some of the NSA's spy satellites in the other direction would be a more viable solution than using a robot to fix it yet again.
-Rights? What rights?
You're most absolutely welcome... you guys seem to need it a lot.
pfft with the cons comming in many cuts should be made in that area, farmers don't see the use of space stuff
I think this is the first time that the States has even mentioned that the arm is in fact a Canadian innovation. In movies, news, etc. I've never seen it mentioned before. Kinda like a wide range of other things that the US tries to take credit for.. I know, I know.. time for a flamebait mod, but it's true.
IANALOOA
It won't be for this launch, or even the next one, but hopefully Canada will soon have companies making launch vehicles:
I doubt this. We're in a horrible launch location (you want to be close to the equator), and the market is already pretty saturated (Arienne-5 and other solutions on the expensive side and Russian boosters on the less expensive side).
I'll be the first to cheer if we do get Canadian launch facilities (way too much red tape getting things launched by the US), but I'm not holding my breath.
This is only true for equatorial orbits. While it's true you do get some 'free ride' from the earths rotation when launching from the equator, it's actually 'penalty' and delta V that has to be removed from the vehicle to achieve a stable polar orbit. USA launches eastbound from JSC because it's an over the water shot, and it's 'significantly' south. They launch westbound from Vandenberg because it's over the water, and you need to give the vehicle 1100 mph westbound velocity to negate the rotation of the earth, to achive a stable polar orbit. Polar orbits are the most useful variety for missions that have a need to see the entire surface of the earth over time.
An ideal launch location has 1000 miles of 'nothing of value' downrange of the launch site. The usa likes to use water, hence locations on the 2 coasts. A launch location in northern Canada that sends vehicles over the Arctic ice pack is the 'ideal' location for launching polar orbit loads. The farther north its located, the less eastbound velocity penalty it accrues from the earth's rotation.