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."

helping is nice

[everyplace]

If ever there was a company to lend an arm to the repairs...

These guys are brilliant

[MrAndrews]

I know some engineers from MDR and they are extremely bright people. If you happen to bump into one in a bar somewhere, be sure not to start talking about ergonomics, because you'll get drowned in actual information (rather than the pseudo-information average humans have). They deserve all the praise they get on these things, because I don't know anyone that works harder on more complex systems than these guys do.

On the other hand, I hear they know nothing about hockey, so they're not all good...

Re:These guys are brilliant

[DAldredge]

Who talks about ergonomics to strangers in a bar?

Re:These guys are brilliant

[MrAndrews]

It all depends on who's buying the drinks, my friend.

Re:These guys are brilliant

[DAldredge]

Well, if they are buying the drinks they can talk about what every the hell they want.. ;->

Conversation...

[stienman]

"Sure, we can fix your satellite for ya, eh, but it'll cost ya two cases and season box seats for hockey."

-Adam

Re:Conversation...

[Lew Pitcher]

"Sure, we can fix your satellite for ya, eh, but it'll cost ya two cases and season box seats for hockey."

Your comment is obviously not 'Canadian'. You didn't get the slang right. The correct quote would be:

Sure, we can fix your satellite for you. But, it'll cost you a couple'a twofours and some "blues", eh.

Re:Conversation...

[Glasswire]

That's assuming they like Blue. They may be 'EX' guys, Canajun drinkers or their one of those pussies drinkin american shit like Bud.

( Old Cdn joke: Why drinking american beer like making love in a canoe? They're both fuck'n near water! )

Re:Conversation...

[grozzie2]

That's assuming they like Blue. They may be 'EX' guys, Canajun drinkers or their one of those pussies drinkin american shit like Bud.

Silly americans.

two-fours = cases of beer.

blues = tickets in the blue seats.

Re:Conversation...

[thufir]

Actually, "eh" has many, many purposes; the purpose you mentioned is only one of them.

I hit your dog with my car eh.

It the noise it made was THIS LOUD eh.

You're not mad, eh?

Re:Conversation...

[SEE]

"Blues"? Bah. Everyone knows the number one beer in Canada [macleans.ca] is the King of Beers [budweiser.com].

NASA outsourcing?

[kryptKnight]

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?

Re:NASA outsourcing?

[merdark]

NASA always out sourced a bit. This company made bot h the shuttle arm, and the ISS arm, it's not surprising they were asked to do the robotic repairs for the hubble.

Re:NASA outsourcing?

[raider_red]

They might as well. Their last piece of original work just flies in circles.

I.E. Re-use

[SpaceLifeForm]

Why re-invent the wheel?

Dexter's Laboratory is now a Vaccum

[Marxist Hacker 42]

Had to be said. (for those who don't know, Dexter is this crazy mad-scientist kid on a Cartoon Network show).

ISS helps USA?

[Pi_0's don't shower]

Go figure, NASA decides to abandon the ISS [nasa.gov] once the USA's commitment is finished, and somehow, the science used to build the ISS due to international collaboration [bbc.co.uk] 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!

Re:ISS helps USA?

[Deltawolf]

The HST can see to the farthest galaxys but can it see into Britney Spear's window like the NSA spy satellites can?

Re:ISS helps USA?

[Deltawolf]

I never said I was. And it was a statement in jest, not a serious one. Think before you speak.

Re:ISS helps USA?

[darkmeridian]

Go figure, NASA decides to abandon the ISS [nasa.gov] once the USA's commitment is finished, and somehow, the science used to build the ISS due to international collaboration [bbc.co.uk]

just might save one of our most invaluable satellite telescopes.

Uh...isn't Hubble our only space telescope? At least, so far?

Re:ISS helps USA?

[snake_dad]

Uh...isn't Hubble our only space telescope? At least, so far?

Try googling for Chandra, Spitzer, Compton, IRAS, SOHO, HEAO, or Hipparcos, combined with "space observatory". Or just "space observatory".

Re:ISS helps USA?

[grozzie2]

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.

Actually, the canadarm has been on shuttles since very early in the shuttle program. Using them to work on Hubble is nothing new, reference this photo [nasa.gov]. That's the shuttle variation of the arm holding Hubble in preparation for a past repair mission. The real difference in thi

And soon Canadians will make the launch vehicles

[madprogrammer]

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 [davinciproject.com] and Canadian Arrow [canadianarrow.com] are showing great potential!

Re:And soon Canadians will make the launch vehicle

[sreid]

pfft with the cons comming in many cuts should be made in that area, farmers don't see the use of space stuff

Re:And soon Canadians will make the launch vehicle

[Christopher Thomas]

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

Re:And soon Canadians will make the launch vehicle

[grozzie2]

I doubt this. We're in a horrible launch location (you want to be close to the equator),

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 wate

Re:Hubble

[bluGill]

Hubble isn't broke, 3 months or 3,000 miles since the last oil change is nearly up. They just need to get it into the nearest Jippy Lube for an oil change and it will be good as new for anouther 3 months/3,000 miles.

First time...

[clem9796]

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.

Re:First time...

[dmatos]

Isn't it kinda' hard for them to take credit for it when it's got a giant friggin' Canadian flag on it?

Re:First time...

[pnewhook]

Last time I was at the San Diego Aerospace museum, the shuttle model had an American flag on the robotic arm. I bet most Americans have no idea that arm is Canadian.

Re:First time...

[wjwlsn]

Nope, we sure as hell mentioned that it was Canadian technology when it fritzed out on the ISS back in 2002. Seriously, though, give me a break... NASA and US news publications almost always refer to it as the "Canadarm". I think that makes a pretty damn clear connection to Canada.