The International Space Station is getting a pair of new creepy robot arms
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are about to make a new robotic friend, two short robotic arms that will perform missions in the cold, dark vacuum of low-Earth orbit.
California-based startup GITAI is emission As part of NASA’s 20th commercial resupply mission, its 4.9-foot-long (1.5-meter) autonomous dual-arm system (called S2) was sent to the International Space Station. S2 will be carried aboard SpaceX’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft, which will be carried by a Falcon 9 rocket. The launch is scheduled for Monday at 12:29 pm ET from Space Force Station Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Once in space, the robotic arm will attach to the exterior of the space station’s Nanoracks Bishop Airlock for its first space demonstration. According to GITAI, S2 is designed to perform maintenance, inspection, assembly and life extension operations on satellites. The robot arm is also equipped with a convenient tool changing device.
After testing on Earth, GITAI hopes to prove the capabilities of its cyborg friend in space to provide on-orbit services to satellites in low-Earth and geostationary orbits and future commercial space stations. “The success of this demonstration will be an important milestone for GITAI, confirming the feasibility of this technology as a fully operational system in space,” GITAI founder and CEO Sho Nakanose said in a statement.
The International Space Station already has two robotic arms measuring 37 feet (11.2 meters) long European robotic arm 58 feet long (17.6 meters) canada arm 2. Europe’s giant machine, launched into space in July 2021, is capable of anchoring itself to the space station and walking back and forth by placing one hand on top of the other. Europe’s big arm is primarily used to transport payloads, and sometimes spacewalking astronauts, from one part of the International Space Station to another. The trustworthy Canadaarm2 has been around for more than 20 years, transporting equipment and servicing instruments aboard the International Space Station.
S2 will now join the ranks of robotic arms as GITAI’s second technology demonstration on the International Space Station, the first being an autonomous robot that performs two common crew activities on the International Space Station: operating cables and switches and assembling structures and panels. The company is also designing lunar rovers to help astronauts on the moon by building habitats, installing solar panels or scooping ice.
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