Canadian Robot Could Rescue Hubble

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."

Comments

Popular opinion wins out?

[MarkEst1973]

I'm quite glad that public outcry over abandoning Hubble has changed NASA's plan for the space telescope.

It was poor timing on NASA's part, really, because just when the latest and greatest pics from Hubble were gaining mass popularity, they wanted to pull the plug. Maybe O'Keefe isn't the savviest politician?

The HST is one of the coolest tools we have for exploration. I'm rather glad that it will be serviced, and thanks to our country's hat (Canada) for stepping up.

Re:Popular opinion wins out?

[amightywind]

Does that make Mexico our ass?

Canadian Manufacturing

[isa-kuruption]

Dextre looks like a Lego bot. Is this how NASA plans to save money?

Robotic vs. manned service mission

[hcg50a]

O'Keefe is going to have to ask Congress for an extra $1.6B, which isn't budgeted. Isn't this about 5 times the amount a manned mission costs to do the same thing?

Is it worth it?

Re:Robotic vs. manned service mission

[niall2]

Each shuttle launch used to cost between 500 and 1000 million. This one would cost more as to satisfy the CAIB report a second shuttle and team would have to be on the pad, ready to go just in case there was a problem. They would have to train the second crew in rescue and have its support team prepped and ready to go. So really the cost of going to Hubble with a shuttle and with DEXTER is about the same in the end.

The benefit of DEXTER is that it is out of the loop of the CIAB and the refit of the shuttles. As the shuttle refit is largely being done for IIS, it would probably take some priority over HST. Then you start bumping into the end of life for HST. If the batteries fail you cannot control the telescope and hence cannot dock with it. So really the slight extra cost is outweighed by the benefits.

Now the question if can the robot really install the COS is a different question (the hardest part of the proposed mission). But thats what the next year of studies are about.

Re:Canadian Robot to fix Canadian Telescope

[shufler]

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

I'm surprised someone modded me insightful already.

Cool

[pHatidic]

Dextre is a clever name for a two armed robot. In classical latin Dexter is the right hand and Sinister is the left hand. That is why we call people who have "two right hands" ambi-dexterous. I'm not going to make any jokes about left handed people being sinister in case they ended up with all the mod points today.

Got the arms down,

[Aerog]

Okay, we've proven that we're good at building huge robotic arms. Canada == Huge arms in space. Now what about some legs, eh? Then, once we have the legs, if we put some funding into it we could put the two together and build some giant Canada-space-mechs. It's cool even without the "giant robot" factor.

1. Build huge space-mechs
2. ???
3. Profit!

It practically sells itself!

Why bother?

[rabtech]

Are we going to run back to mommy every time we stub our toes in space?

Being on the frontier is dangerous; every single one of the astronauts knows this and signed up for it.

If any of them don't want to fly Space Shuttle missions anymore, then don't make them. But I'm sure enough would volunteer for a manned Hubble repair mission that it wouldn't be a problem.

Besides, we need to keep Hubble going; The Webb telescope is NOT a replacement for Hubble - it looks at different wavelengths; if we could ever get both of them operating at the same time they could be used in a complimentary fashion.

Re:Repairs

[missing000]

I'm just happy that they decided not to ditch the Hubble.

Ditching it may be stupid, but this is crazy. 1.6 billion for what? It's replacement is only slated to cost $824.8 million

Gimmy a freaking break.

More info...

[SeaDour]

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

Re:Didn't realise Canada did that much in Space

[fitten]

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").

Re:Didn't realise Canada did that much in Space

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Repairs

[Curtman]

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.

MD Robotics

[NeoCode]

MD Robotics has played a vital role in NASA space programs. It's the same company that has built the CanadaArm and CanadaArm2 and is now providing with Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator for HST.

I am very proud to see Canada (and MD Robotics, since it has a development lab in my hometown) play a vital role in ISS (with CanadaArm and CA2) and now the HST.

Replacement

[Engineer-Poet]

Since we have another mirror for it (better than the one in orbit), why not just build another unit of the same design and loft it on an expendable rocket? If we have a replacment in orbit we don't have to worry about the old one, except if we want to put it in a museum instead of the ocean.

This would also set a precedent for adding new capability instead of spending huge sums to maintain the old stuff. Why shouldn't we have several Hubble-type scopes instead of just one, anyway?

What does it get us?

[Engineer-Poet]

Hubble sees very well in the visible and the near UV, so if we want full-spectrum coverage of unknown objects we are not going to be able to get it with just the Webb telescope.

Re:NASA has become bloated, fat, and lazy

[kahei]

The whole organization should be nuked

from orbit -- it's the only way to be sure.

Sinister secret society

[revery]

We have the mod points everyday, Dexter...

--

You can't even do our secret handshake

If they try and things go wrong,,,

[Microlith]

HOSERS HOBBLE HUBBLE!

Would be an appropriate headline for the newspapers, I think :)

Re:Repairs

[Tackhead]

> That's $824.8 million in NASA budgetary estimate dollars, which are not the same as real dollars.

And it's scheduled to launch in 7 years, which any astronomer knows, doesn't imply that NASA is measuring time in Earth years.

As a rule of thumb, NASA schedules appear to use Martian years, occasionally using bodies in the Asteroid belt when Mars is feeling uncooperative. For instance, ISS will take 5 years to complete, the Galileo probe will arrive at Jupiter in 1986, and so on.

The Space Shuttle has an interesting history: initially projected to achieve 50 launches per year (using Martian years), revised down to 10 launches per year (using Ceres or Vespa in the asteroid belt for year measurement), and now targeted at 6 launches per Jovian year.

The Avro Arrow

[theonomist]

Let's not forget another Canadian technological triumph, the Avro Arrow.

According to the most reliable sources I've been able to find, the Avro Arrow...

1. Was the first fly-by-wire aircraft.
2. Was the first MACH2+ production aircraft.
3. Invented baseball.
4. Painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
5. Made the Kessel Run in under twelventeen parsecs, provided that it got a good night's sleep and a running start.
6. Actually did know that a parsec is a unit of distance rather than time, but, being Canadian, was too polite to point out the error.
7. Ran Linux.
8. Was assembled entirely using those Robertson things.

Where's the outrage?

[Sloppy]

This robot (and a foreign outsourced one that that!) threatens to take jobs away from American workers!

Those of you who defend technology and globalism, I hope you can look an unemployed American astronaut in the eye while you explain your position. And be sure to explain who is going to put food on his family.