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Savi Sachdev – A leader in the Mobile Servicing System program

In the 1980s, as a young engineer at Spar Aerospace, Savi Sachdev first envisioned the concept of a relocatable arm for the International Space Station. The idea evolved and later became the Mobile Servicing System.

With Dextre installed on the Space Station in March 2008, the Mobile Servicing System is complete – a symbol of Canadian innovation and engineering excellence.

Today, Sachdev is the Director General of Space Programs for the Canadian Space Agency. He tells the story of this critical tool.

Question: You are one of the people behind the Mobile Servicing System. Some say you came up with the concept in a restaurant and drew it on a napkin. Is that true?

Savi Sachdev: Well, that's a bit of an urban legend. When looking at concepts for the Space Station, we realized that we didn't need an arm like the one on the Shuttle, fixed at one end, but something that could move around. For as the Space Station is built and gets bigger, a fixed arm could not always reach all work areas. So that's where I came up with the idea of an arm that can be relocated, which is basically the concept of Canadarm2, now on the Space Station.

With the Mobile Servicing System, we realized that in addition to a big arm for assembly tasks, we would need something smaller and more dexterous to be able to service the Space Station, to change out equipment.

So we designed a two armed robot that would do a lot of the dexterous work that an astronaut can do, and maybe even more. Astronauts obviously can't manipulate large masses very easily in space, and an astronaut can only stay out there for six or seven hours at the most on a spacewalk. Dextre is out there all the time.

Question: What does Dextre represent to you?

Savi Sachdev: Dextre represents the next evolution, the next generation, in robotics. It represents the ingenuity of engineers to build on something that works, is useful, and will save effort and time on the Space Station.

Question: Are you impressed by the performance of the Mobile Servicing System and its critical role in the assembly of the Station?

Savi Sachdev: Yes. It's like the Shuttle arm: it's designed to do certain jobs, but because of its design versatility, it can do a lot more than originally planned. We felt that the Mobile Servicing System should also be able to do a lot more than originally intended. This has been the case. You know, it's a fantastic tool. The performance has been incredible. It does what it's designed for, but it's also used for many other tasks: inspecting, watching Soyuz crafts approach the Space Station, and as a platform for moving instruments to where they need to be. I hope that we continue to operate the Space Station to fully appreciate its usefulness.