Dextre Robot at Work on the Space Station
Explanation:
What's the world's most complex space robot doing up there?
Last week,
Dextre was imaged moving
atop the
Destiny Laboratory
Module of the
International Space Station (ISS),
completing tasks prior to the deployment of
Japan's
Kibo pressurized science laboratory.
Dextre, short for the
Canadi
an-built
Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator,
has arms three meters in length and can attach power tools as fingers.
Behind
Dextre is the
blackness of space,
while Earth looms over Dextre's head.
The
Kibo laboratory
segment being deployed during space shuttle Discovery's trip to the ISS can be pressurized
and contains racks of scientific experiment that will be used to explore many things,
including
how plants brace themselves against gravity, and
how
water might be inhibited from freezing in cells under microgravity.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
