The new robotic arm of the space station arrived at the station in July last year. But it had to wait a long time under thermal blankets in space until the European Robotic Arm (ERA) was activated. Until Thursday, April 28.
aboard the International Space Station (ISS), the facility’s new electronic arm was activated for the first time on Thursday, April 28. Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev spent 7 hours and 42 minutes outside the ISS to activate the European Robotic Arm (ERA).
Robotic arm started working for the first time!
NASA shared images of cosmonauts working to activate the robotic arm before the first trials. It was not easy for ERA to reach this stage. The electronic arm, which was introduced about 30 years ago, could not be sent to the ISS due to various disruptions in the last 20 years.
European Space Agency (ESA) engineers are finally trying to test the robot arm in space. started. The new robotic arm is about 11 meters long and weighs 630 kilograms. The electronic arm offers a high degree of maneuverability thanks to its seven joints.
ERA will mainly be used for installing, lifting and moving loads and large components. The space station already has two more operational robotic arms signed by Canada and Japan. However, ERA stands out as the first arm to be positioned outside the Russian part of the ISS. In this way, maintenance and renovation works outside the space station will be facilitated.
A total of five studies will be carried out for the full capacity operation of ERA. With the first spacewalk carried out last week, the panel installation of the robot arm was made. With the work done yesterday, the robotic arm was activated for the first time. May is marked for the third spacewalk.
So what do you think about the International Space Station and its work? You can share your views with us in the comments section or on the SDN Forum.
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