Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Canadian Robot Could Rescue Hubble

Posted by timothy on from the mounties-in-space dept.

NETHED writes "We have all seen Stories about The Hubble Space Telescope and its current problems. Since then, NASA has okayed the fix of the HST. It seems that America's neighbor to the North has some answers. Dextre to the rescue. The mission would not be decided upon until next summer says Sean O'Keefe. It seems that NASA saw this as a good way to listen to the public for about 1.6 billion dollars." Update: 08/11 15:45 GMT by T : Reader Michael Mol dug up a link with a more technical explanation of Dextre, noting "It looks like Dextre's normally supposed to be attached to something before it performs work."

8 of 298 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Canadian Robot to fix Canadian Telescope by shufler · · Score: 4, Informative

    Err, wait. I retract my statement. I was thinking of the Canadarm.

    I'm surprised someone modded me insightful already.

  2. More info... by SeaDour · · Score: 4, Informative

    Here's a good link from the Canadian Space Agency's web site on Dextre (Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator): http://www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/csa_sectors/human_p re/iss/mss_spdm.asp

  3. Re:Didn't realise Canada did that much in Space by fitten · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are some good robotics folks in Canada. Most notably are the Canadarm (robotic arm on the Shuttle) and a few deep diving ocean exploration vehicles that have very advanced robotic arms and such on them (one of which, with some cosmetic changes, was used in "The Abyss").

  4. Re:Didn't realise Canada did that much in Space by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    You need to read up on Canada's history in space. We put up the first commercial communications satellite (no bouncing signals off of a baloon!), have the worlds most powerful communications satellites, built a synthetic aperture radar satellite with such precise imaging capabilities that the US refused to launch it, and the list goes on.

  5. Re:Repairs by Curtman · · Score: 5, Informative

    Its replacement also isn't scheduled to go up for another 7 years. And doesn't factor in the cost to get it up there yet. Or the labour to build the thing. Or the cost of fixing it when the inevitable problems crop up.

    I'll give you a freaking break right away.

  6. Re:Repairs by madprogrammer · · Score: 3, Informative

    I thought I read somewhere that while the JWST would "replace" Hubble, there was still some things that Hubble could do that JWST couldn't.

    Is that true?

  7. Re:here's to... by worst_name_ever · · Score: 3, Informative

    Not to mention humour, eh?

    --

    In Soviet Rush, today's Tom Sawyer gets high on you.
  8. It's just an end effector for the Shutttle arm by Animats · · Score: 3, Informative
    Here's more info from the manufacturer. This isn't a free-flying robot. It's an end effector for the Canada Arm on the Shuttle. So it still takes a shuttle flight. Probably still takes astronaut EVAs, too.

    Like the arm, it's a teleoperator, controlled by somebody with joysticks.

    Given how much a shuttle flight costs, it would probably be cheaper to just run off another copy of the Hubble and launch that.