MD Robotics, a subsidiary of MacDonald,
Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. recorded another flawless mission for
the world-famous Canadarm following the landing of Space Shuttle Columbia on
Tuesday, March 12 and the completion of STS-109 – the fourth Hubble Space
Telescope servicing mission.
From the initial capture, to the perfect redeployment of Hubble, Canadarm
played a critical role in the most intricate and challenging Hubble servicing
mission to date. The Canadian-built arm supported five consecutive spacewalks,
allowing astronauts to upgrade the telescope with improved instruments that
will dramatically improve Hubble’s view of the cosmos.
Canadarm provided the firm grasp that put Hubble in orbit on April 24,
1990 and has assisted in its four extremely successful servicing missions –
December 1993, February 1997, December 1999 and March 2002. During the four
servicing missions Canadarm supported 18 spacewalks for a total of over 129
hours of extra vehicular activity.
“MD Robotics is proud to have contributed to the success of STS-109,”
said Mag Iskander, Vice President and General Manager of MD Robotics. “We have
successfully provided critical on-orbit assembly and maintenance operations to
NASA on the Space Shuttle for 20 years and more recently, on the International
Space Station. We envision a vital role for MD Robotics in on-orbit servicing
of spacecraft using teleoperated and autonomous robotics”.
MD Robotics is the world’s leading space robotics company, committed to
offering sophisticated robotic and engineering solutions for space and
terrestrial applications.
Related Web Sites:
www.mda.ca
