Orbit Day One

The crews have been awakened and they are going about their workdays with much anticipation. This mission will last 16 days; there will be five space walks. It is a huge challenge.

Meet Dextre, the new robot arm that will live on the end of the ISS' CanadaArm2.

The EETimes has the Dextre story: (03/11/2008) 10:00 AM EDT) PORTLAND, Ore. —

Space Shuttle Endeavor, which roared off the pad early Tuesday (March 11), is carrying a Canadian-built humanoid robotic arm with unprecedented dexterity for a space robot.

The Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, or Dextre, was launched as part of a shuttle mission to the International Space Station. The orbitor is also carrying the Japanese Kibo laboratory module.

Dextre has has an upper body that pivots at the waist and shoulders that support two identical arms, each with a hand with seven joints.

. Along with attaching the new component for the Kibo laboratory to the International Space Station, the crew will install and begin testing Dextre, which will be become the primary tool for maintaining and servicing the space station.

. . . Dextre joins an existing Canadian robot arm on the space station, the Space Station Remote Manipulator System, called Canadarm2. Dextre can either ride on it the end of Canadarm2 or operate independently on the Mobile Base System while Canadarm2 delivers parts for Dextre to assemble. The crew can remotely control Dextre, Canadarm2 and the Mobile Base Station, the space agency said.

To be continued--

Cross-posted at Southwest Blogger

My topical post today at South by Southwest and The Reaction is about .

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