Source: National Post

The Canadian Space Agency has recently announced that our nation and the Brampton, Ontario-based company MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates, will design and build Canadarm3, a new robotic arm for use aboard the U.S.-led Lunar Gateway. In 1999 the company purchased Spar Aerospace, which developed the first two arms, also known as remote manipulator systems or RMS.

“We will be the masters of robotics on Gateway,” says Gilles Leclerc, whose enthusiasm for the project is matched only by his out-of-this-world job title of Director General, Space Exploration, Canadian Space Agency.

The Lunar Gateway, slated to begin construction in 2023, is a small space station that will remain in lunar orbit, providing a rendezvous location for ships travelling from the Earth to the moon, as well as landers on their way to the lunar surface. It could also be used as a staging area for future crewed flights to Mars.

Leclerc says the Canadarm3 has already been six years in planning and preparation, and he expects it will be ready to fly in 2026, which is when the Lunar Gateway is scheduled to become operational.

However, the station will not be permanently occupied, at least in the early days, which means Canadarm3 may be required to make repairs, inspect the station and even assist robotic craft in docking when no one else is home.

First flown in 1981, the original Canadarm was mounted on the space shuttle. It was a point of pride for Canadians, its maple leaf logo often visible during space walks. Leclerc notes that given the 1970s-era technology that went into it, it was little more than “a smart crane.”

Twenty years later, a more robust Canadarm2 was delivered to the International Space Station by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield. Leclerc says it’s very likely a Canadian could also help set up the newest arm.

“One goal was to guarantee the future of our astronaut program,” he says. “We want to be and we will be critical in operations, and that will guarantee us flights to deep space.”

He adds that another Canadian Space Agency initiative, the Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program, or LEAP, opens a gateway for Canadian science to take place on and around the moon. “That will set the stage for a Canadian astronaut going to the moon by the end of this decade.”

The Canadarm3 will be smaller than its predecessors. It will stretch 8.5 metres and weigh in at 715 kilograms, just half the size and weight of the Canadarm2. But what it lacks in bulk it will make up for in brains. Each iteration of the device has packed in more cameras and other sensors. Canadarm3 will feature force-moment sensors, giving it a sense of touch, as well as six colour 4K cameras and a 3D vision sensor tool that maps objects around it.

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“We’re going to do a quantum leap in autonomy,” is how Leclerc puts it. “We’re going to add artificial intelligence.” When not operating on its own, Canadarm3 will be under the direction of flight controllers at the Robotics Mission Control Centre in Saint-Hubert, Que.

The Gateway itself will have a highly elliptical orbit around the moon, passing within 3,000 kms of the lunar surface every seven days before arcing out to 70,000 kms.

This means Canadarm3 will also set a distance record for a Canadian RMS. The original Canadarm’s highest altitude was 620 kilometres above Earth when it was used to place the Hubble telescope in orbit in 1990. Tethered to the International Space Station, Canadarm2 is typically no more than 400 kms above the planet. But the moon is almost 1,000 times further away, averaging 384,000 kms from Earth.

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“And the moon is just one step,” says Leclerc. “The ultimate goal is to go to Mars.”

Robotic exploration of the red planet continues apace this month, with three ships planning to launch. NASA’s Mars 2020, due to lift off July 30, will include a tiny helicopter and a rover that will collect samples for a possible return to Earth. China plans its own lander and rover mission, Tianwen-1, while the United Arab Emirates’ Hope Mars orbiter is schedule to lift off from Japan. A European/Russian rover has been postponed and will launch in 2022.

Leclerc is bullish that when humans make it to Mars, Canada will once again be there to do some of the heavy lifting. “Maybe Canadarm4 will have significant advances,” he notes. “We will continue to be a leader in space robotics.”

Source: National Post