Canadarm 2 Now Advancing Towards Its 50th Catch

A few days before the Canadian Robotic arm touches a major milestone on the International Space Station (ISS).  

The recent developments showed that MDA’s Space Canadarm 2 is heading towards its 50th Cosmic Catch. The occurrence of the event is scheduled to happen on August 5. This landmark event will take its occurrence when the Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ship docks with the International Space Station. The Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ship is set to deliver thousands of pounds of supplies, food, and experimental tools for the expedition’s 71 astronauts. It was announced by the CSA on 2nd August. 

The Cygnus cargo ship is slated to launch at the International Space Station at 11.29 a.m. EDT 

(0329 GMT) on August 3rd. Interested viewers can follow Space.com as it will be the live viewing platform for the mission, courtesy of NASA+ (NASA Television formerly). If the launch proceeds according to the plan, Canadarm 2 is programmed to capture the Cygnus. Canadarm 2 will further dock it at the International Space Station roughly around 3.55 a.m EDT (0755 GMT) on the 5th of August. The timetable for the earring process in NASA+ will begin at 2.30 a.m. EDT (0630 GMT).

A BRIEF OF CANADARM 2 

The Canadarm 2 was launched into space into orbit at the outset during Space shuttle mission STS-100 on April 19, 2001. The Canadarm 2 is operated by MDA and was funded by the  CSA. In celebration of installing the arm in the course of the first-ever CSA spacewalk, Chris Hadfield marked the success by playing the Canadian national anthem in orbit. Hadfield further made some light-hearted references to “an honorary Canadian”  to the fellow spacewalker of NASA Scott Parazynski. 

The arm marked its first satellite capture on September 17, 2009. It captured Japan’s HTV-1 (the H-II Transfer Vehicle, a series of now-retired cargo spacecraft). Throughout the long course of 15 years, the Canadarm 2 berthed a variety of spacecraft, including  Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus and SpaceX‘s Cargo Dragon.

Canadarm

As established in “Canadarm and Collaboration” by Elizabeth Howell reported by ECW Press, the Canadarm is one element of a lineup of Canadian Robotic arms based on telescoping tube technology. This is a common concept seen in an amount of space application instances ranging from extendable antennas to Apollo program’s lunar landers. 

The Canadarm began its space expedition in the course of the STS-2 shuttle mission. It was accompanied by Spar Aerospace and Canada’s National Research Council. It is the government body responsible for overseeing astronauts. It was not until the formation of the CSA in 1989.  NASA claims, the Canadarm was thoroughly utilised for spacewalking. It was also employed for several Hubble Space Telescope missions and a few last-minute manoeuvres like removing an ice plug from a frozen shuttle drain line. 

The success of Canadarm paved the way in evolutionary ways. It allowed the NRC and later on the CSA to fund astronaut seats on the shuttle as the robot arm added value to NASA’s activities in orbit. This technology is still used and will be maintained in the future for the Artemis Program moon missions. Marc Garneau was the first Canadian astronaut on STS-41 G in October 1983. He was a member of the NRC.