Herb Goettmann - Canadarm II

Canada plays critical role in shuttle mission
CTV.ca News Staff

They're both made in Canada -- one that works like a giant dental mirror and the other a sophisticated laser camera-- and Discovery wouldn't be blasting off without them.

The inspection boom and the specialized camera will be deployed in flight to help the crew examine every centimetre of the shuttle during the first NASA shuttle mission since Columbia blew up in 2003, killing all seven aboard.

MDA Ltd. in Brampton, Ont., the company that developed the shuttle's robotic Canadarm, also built the latest safety system known as an orbiter boom sensor, which at 15 metres, is almost as long as the Canadarm itself.

"There's a lot of midnight hours burnt to get this ready and make it safe," MDA project engineer Herb Goettmann told CTV News. "We're really looking forward to NASA having a safe mission on this trip."

MDA devised the robotic arm extension concept following the 2003 Columbia Accident Investigation Board recommendation for on-orbit inspection repair capabilities.

The boom extension builds on the technology and experience acquired by MDA in building several generations of space-borne manipulators -- the original Shuttle Canadarm, Canadarm2 for the International Space Station, and "Dextre" a two-armed robot destined for the International Space Station.

The end of the 15-metre inspection boom has two high-tech laser cameras. One was designed by Ottawa-based Neptec to do detailed three-dimensional mapping of suspect areas on the shuttle, while a U.S.-made camera will take larger snapshots.

The advantage of Neptec's camera over traditional video cameras is its immunity to the effects of changing lighting conditions. This is all the more critical in orbit, where the sun typically rises and sets 18 times a day.

And during this critical trip to the international space station, Canadian astronaut Julie Payette will be on the ground at mission control, one of three people rotating around the clock as the sole voice link with the crew in space.

"The laser-tipped Canadian boom has given the Discovery crew more confidence," said Payette, who flew on Discovery in 1999 and is chief astronaut of the Canadian Space Agency.

"There's many more ways now to get out of difficult situations. In our world, where we know the risks, we all feel fairly secure. Now we feel even better."

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, NASA's head of space robotics, said the Discovery crew will wield the boom and cameras to send images to the ground team for analysis.

"The reason Columbia had such a horrible re-entry is that it had damage we didn't know about," said Hadfield, referring to a large hole caused by a suitcase-sized piece of insulating foam that fell off the fuel tank during liftoff.

"It's so violent (during re-entry) that you have to be able to look for even hair-line cracks caused by meteorites or pieces of ice."

Most of the inspections will take place on Day 2 of the 15-day mission, Hadfield said, and the arm extension will observe formerly hard-to-see places like the leading edge of the wings, the top part of the tail and the nose cap.

"Probably we're going to find some areas that we're going to want to go back and have a look at," he said.

If any damage is found, it could be repaired by the shuttle's Canadarm and a second Canadian-made arm on the space station that Hadfield helped install during his 2001 trip aboard Endeavour.

In the worst-case scenario, if there is major damage, the seven crew members will stay on the orbiting station until a new shuttle arrives to pick them up.

The crew is scheduled to deliver some 15 tonnes of new cargo to the unfinished NASA space station, taking away equipment that's old or doesn't work.

With U.S. plans to retire the shuttle program by 2010, there's pressure to finish the $100-billion US station while the large cargo carriers are still operational. President George W. Bush has directed NASA to plan for returning people to the moon by 2020 and eventually send them to Mars