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Canada to develop "Canada-eye" for damage check on int'l space station

Xinhua, January 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

Known for its Canadarm contribution to the International Space Station (ISS), Canada will now develop a "Canada-eye" to check the station for damage, the country's Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains announced here Thursday.

The Canadian government awarded a 1.7-million Canadian dollar (about 1.2 million U.S. dollars) contract to Ottawa-based company Neptec Design Group Ltd. to create an advanced space vision system to inspect the ISS for hits from small meteorites and orbital debris.

The vision system, which will be launched in 2020, will use a combination of three sensors consisting of a 3D laser, a high-definition camera and an infrared camera to support the inspection and maintenance of the ISS's ageing infrastructure, according to a government news release. The system will also help in the docking of spacecraft visiting the station.

About the size of a microwave oven, the vision system will reveal damage that is sometimes hidden to the naked eye, or that is located in places that are hard to reach or difficult to see. It will be mounted on Dextre, the Canadian Space Agency's (CSA's) two-armed robotic helper on board the ISS that can perform delicate tasks and reduce the need for astronauts to perform spacewalks.

Dextre is part of the Mobile Servicing System, designed by Canadian company MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd., which is comprised of three robots that can work together or independently.

One of those robots is the 17-metre-long Canadarm2, which assembled the modules and major components of the ISS in space, and is used to move large pieces of equipment and supplies, install science experiments, and carry astronauts.

Its technology builds on the legacy of Canada's most famous space-robot, Canadarm that debuted on the space shuttle Columbia in 1981 and which marked the start of Canada's collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States.

Currently, external inspections of the ISS are conducted either by cameras on Canadarm2 and Dextre, or through photos taken by crew inside the station or out on spacewalks for riskier close-ups.

Dextre's new "Canada-eye" vision system is to be operated by mission controllers at NASA in Houston or at the CSA's headquarters in the French-speaking province of Quebec.

Images obtained will be available to the public, "who will see the ISS as they have never seen it before," according to the government release. Endit