Table of Contents

The Team behind Dextre

Mathieu Caron
Flight Controller

Video Summary

Throughout Dextre's development, I gave advice to the engineers on how we were going to operate Dextre since, in terms of the mission itself, we were responsible for developing operational procedures—the procedures that the astronauts and mission controllers on the ground will use when we operate Dextre.

When we talk about operations in orbit, we are often dealing with the unknown. We try to be proactive and address any potential problems ahead of time, but are often confronted with situations that we had not anticipated. Finding solutions to such problems, often in very short order, is something that is truly fascinating.

Dextre marks the beginning of a decade of work for us. The system, which is what gives Dextre its great flexibility, also makes it complex. Therefore, we had to ensure that everything would be ready for its arrival. But, even after the shuttle returns to Earth, we will continue to operate Dextre, and continue to learn how to operate it.

During the last mission, when we had to cope with a torn solar panel, we used Canadarm2 and the orbitor boom in a way we had never conceived that we would. So, we have reason to believe that, for Dextre, even though we think we know how we are going to use it, but over the years to come, situations will undoubtedly arise where we will say, "I would never have believed that we could have used Dextre in that way."

Leslie Sponder
Operations Engineer and Mission Planner

Video Summary

I've played a couple of different roles in the development of Dextre. One of them was to help look at all the procedures that the astronauts are going to use when they get on the Space Station, and we have to review all of those up at CSA, and so I was one of the people that took a look at the first drafts of those procedures. We have tools up here at CSA that they don't have yet in NASA. They're still developing them. So we actually have an ability to review procedures that they can't down there.

One thing that makes me proud about it is that it's brand new technology and that's very interesting because every day you learn something new about it. And as part of going through a lot of the software information, I do learn a lot every day on different aspects of the technology.

Dextre in general represents sort of the ability of Canada to produce robotics and to do space robotics, and this mission in particular is sort of the culmination of many years of hard work for the whole team and everyone involved.

My favourite thing about Dextre that we've gotten a chance to do was signing a thermal blanket that's going to be used for Dextre, has been put onto Dextre. So they brought it here to CSA, and we all had to put on the white gloves and take a pen and sign it, and then they're going to put it on Dextre and they put it under one of the Canada logos that will be on there. So that'll go up into space and we all have our names on Dextre.

Serge Gaudreau
Senior Designer, Instructional Systems

Video Summary

At the outset, my role was team leader of the development group for the Dextre training program. The major challenge we had at the start, in 1997-98, when we began the Canadarm2 training, was that we did not have all of the technical information. There were many unknowns. With Dextre, we have the opposite situation—a lot of basic material and basic documentation. We had models of Dextre. The simulator was already in very good condition for Dextre. So, with the team, along with a group made up of three instructional designers and five instructors, teamwork became important, and we worked a lot with the simulator.

Ultimately, Dextre is a robot. Dextre is agility. Dextre will be used to manipulate space station equipment that requires replacement, and that um... requires great dexterity. Dextre is on the arm of the space station, at the end of the arm, and it will be used in situations where extremely precise handling is required.

Laurie Metcalfe
MSS Mission Operations Analyst

Video Summary

Over the years with Dextre, I've played several roles. I started out almost eight years ago now doing hardware testing, and then I moved on to some assembly and integration of the flight support equipment, and most recently, I've been working on the operations for the analysis for on-orbit operations.

I think what's special about Dextre is the capability to do the fine motor tasks that so far none of the other robots on the Space Station can do. Doing the fine motor skills, it can get right in there and wiggle a box into place, which the larger Canadarm2 can't do. So it really has the fine motor skills, which is very tricky to do.

Over the years, there were a lot of moments that were quite hard, especially when I was doing the hardware testing. There were some problems early on with the brakes that, at one point, I wasn't sure that we were ever going to solve them, and eventually we came up with – we figured out what the problem was and we found a solution to it. So, now, when Dextre goes up, we're going to do a special test and the brakes will work fine. But it was a long road to get to that point.

It's really interesting to be involved in the space program, that has such a pure scientific purpose – robots that are designed for peaceful scientific purposes that aid in the exploration of space – and that really keeps me passionate. And the other thing is that I work with such a great group of people that it's a pleasure to come to work every day and see everyone.

Michel Wander
Engineer Systems

Video Summary

My main role at CSA and for the last eight years with Dextre has been the integration and test, mainly reviewing documents. But every once in a while we get to go to test facilities and down to Kennedy Space Center and get to play with the hardware, which is very, very cool.

Launching Dextre onto orbit involves temperature, pressure and vibration, and in order to make sure that all the components are capable of withstanding a launch on the space shuttle, we shake and bake, we put them in a vacuum, heat them up to temperatures that would, you know, cause us to really, really roast. Yeah, basically, just about everything that the Dextre would see during a launch and on orbit we simulate here on the ground.

Dextre is unique in that it's able to remove and replace items on the Space Station, rather than just move them around. The SSRMS, or Canadarm2, is very powerful, but for all of its strengths, all it can do is move components from one place to another. The Dextre can actually unbolt a computer or a camera or a component that has failed, and replace it. I'm proud to be working on the Dextre project because I get to work with engineers from all over the world – Russians, Europeans, Americans, Japanese – and that in itself is really what I think the International Space Station is about.

Nellie Lapointe
Communications Advisor

Video Summary

My role in mission STS-123 is mainly to produce and develop promotional items, such as posters, pins, patches, crew or spokesperson uniforms, maps, information documents, etc., that are also sent to the general public and to schools.

Unlike a mission with astronauts, with Dextre, we did not have the human aspect—there was no face of the mission. It was truly a technical element. It was a piece of robotics, therefore, very detailed, and, for that reason, it made the challenge even greater because we had to really reflect on exactly what Dextre was, come up with a graphical means of illustrating that, properly express what the mission consisted of, and what role Dextre would play. So, I think that was one of the difficulties.

When talking communications, we often think we are involved at the last minute or the last second because that is precisely when everything comes together—when the launch takes place. However, I can say that our team has been working for a long time on this mission, and we are involved. Sometimes, it's working behind the scenes, but it's also drafting documents, placing calls to the media, the positioning we can do about what Dextre is, the material developed for youth, for teachers, for students in classrooms across Canada, also the distribution of products across Canada, which is planned, that's what we think about in advance, and on which we have been putting in a lot of time for many months.

Daniel Lefebvre
Staff Systems Engineer

Video Summary

The role I played in the development of Dextre is integration and test of Dextre. Now, that implies what do you do on the ground to make sure that the space robot will work in space? What's so special about Dextre is its ability to do small operations; is that, at the end of Dextre, you've got two arms and at the end of each arm you've got the equivalent of a hand, and this hand is a very sensitive hand. It can basically feel what it's doing. It's got enough capability to pick up a tool, to grab onto what it's going work on, and with that tool it can basically, depending on the tool, you've got the equivalent of a screwdriver, so you can undo bolts and whatnot, grip onto things. But at the same time it's also got an umbilical where it can provide power and data to whatever it is that it's operating on, to keep it alive – basically keep it warm in space. Now, on top of all that, it's got the capability of spinning around on itself. It's got several cameras so it can see what it's doing. You've got a couple of cameras that you can aim and position. You've got cameras at the end of each of the hands. And it's got the capacity of being moved around on the station, so it can work wherever it's needed to be worked.

Passionate and proud I am about Dextre is that we're working really on the cutting edge of technology. I mean, it really is the next generation of robot. Being able to do this really paves the way for even more complex operations. Now, right now, Dextre is designed to work and do the maintenance and tasks around the Space Station. What this will allow us to do is first of all show us that we can do this, that we can do this remotely, and allow us to do the same type of work in future missions.

Ken Podwalski
Manager Mission Operations

Video Summary

As operations manager, my role in this mission hasn't really begun yet. Our role is actually going to start when we launch Dextre. So we're looking forward to planning those operations and getting through the commissioning of the robot and understanding how it works and how well it's going to work, and then planning its subsequent operations to use Dextre in the following missions.

This work is the excitement of working on something of this large a scale. It's a very intimidating thing to be involved in something that's having you building and maintaining a vehicle in outer space and working with astronauts, and at the same time you have the luxury of having that role where it's just continuously exciting to be working around space shuttle launches and with astronauts and training them and developing robotics operations and assembling vehicles in space. I think that's the aspect that I'm most proud about and being able to do. It's a remarkable thing.

With Dextre and the maintenance of the Space Station, we don't really know what the next problem is going to be. So it requires us to be ready at a much larger level, a much broader scope of readiness, and I think that's going to be a very unique challenge for anybody that's participated in this program, actually, because as much as engineers would look at a problem and want to know how they have to be prepared, we don't have that luxury.

I hope that the next year goes very smoothly for Dextre. I hope that we have the opportunity to prove what that capability is, much the same way we did with Canadarm2. With Canadarm2, its actual usage on the Space Station wound up being far more than what was planned, just because it was that useful a tool on the Space Station. Dextre brings even more capability, so I think the possibilities with Dextre are even greater. We may see that Dextre becomes the ultimate tool on the Space Station, where every failure or every break down of the hardware Dextre is going to be the maintenance man who will be travelling around the Space Station doing those repairs.

Stéphane Rondeau
Project Engineer, Ground Segment

Video Summary

I was mostly involved with the flight simulators—meaning everything used to train astronauts on the ground before they go into space to carry out their mission. So, within our simulator, we had to reproduce Dextre as closely as possible so that when the astronauts come here, they are going to find what they are going eventually find on the space shuttle. There were things that we had to develop that we had not encountered at all with the Canadarm. With the Canadarm, we mainly moved large modules from the shuttle's cargo bay, and gently moved them to an area where there were few obstructions.

Dextre, however, takes us to a whole new level. Dextre will need to go into areas where there are a lot of obstacles, that it would hold on to something and be able to pick up boxes that need to be removed in confined spaces, and, in one case, it must open a door, get a gizmo, then shut the door. It truly is a new level of interaction with the station.

Dextre's launch is just the beginning of the adventure. That's where it starts to get interesting, because, by that point, we have built Dextre, we will take it into space, but the really exciting thing that we'll do with Dextre is operate it in space. It's going to position Canada at the forefront of the field of space robotics. We have really put ourselves in a perfect position to be able to participate in future missions to the Moon and to Mars.

Viqar Abbasi
Technical Manager Training Systems

Video Summary

My role on this project is as the technical manager of the training group. We train the astronauts to operate Dextre for the client, so they come to our facilities in St-Hubert. We have a team of instructors, instructional designers, who'd build the material and deliver the material to the trainees.

On orbit, on the International Space Station, we have a console set up exactly like this. The astronauts come first to CSA to take a two-week course on the Canadarm2, so this robotic system. Once they get a mastery on this one, then, over time, they come back for a second course, another two weeks on Dextre, and so they learn to operate these two systems as one big system of robotics on the Space Station.

I think Canada's involvement in this project has been really exceptional. The praise we get from all of our international partners about the training, as well as the actual robotic systems, I think we are almost the envy of the space program. We have a small budget compared to everybody else and yet we do such amazing things, and every single mission we have involvement because our robots are involved in every single mission. I think I'm really proud of that role that Canada plays in the big picture, and I think that's an amazing thing. I think everybody should know about that.

Mathieu Caron
Flight Controller

Video Summary

I have always been fascinated by space, space exploration and science. I have the training: a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in mechanical engineering, and I saw this training as an opportunity to participate in these space exploration projects. Take my job, for instance, I'm never bored. Every day is different, whether I am controlling the movement of the mobile base and the Mobile Servicing System with Canadarm2 from the ground, or preparing procedures for astronauts who will need to move loads the size of a school bus. Also, the importance of communications must not be lost in the shuffle, learning to communicate, in writing or orally other international partners, whether they're Japanese, Russian, members of the European Space Agency, and even American. Top-notch training can really lead to these wonderful projects.

My kids are fascinated. My little boy, who is in grade one, decided to do a project on the space shuttle, and he was very pleased to learn that the shuttle weighed the same as 378 African elephants. Now, he wants to be an astronaut when he grows up. When he tries to explain to his classmates what his dad does for a living, he says daddy helps astronauts to move the robot arm, because they need the help.

Leslie Sponder
Operations Engineer and Mission Planner

Video Summary

My parents were my main motivation for being in science and technology. Ever since I was little they've encouraged me to wonder about the world and ask questions, and I think that that really made me interested in how things work and that's what science and technology is about, is how things work.

I love space, I love going outside at night and looking at the stars, and, you know, seeing shooting stars and seeing the northern lights and anything related to space.

Every mission is slightly different. Everyone has different challenges that come up during the course of the mission, so it's always impressive to see the end of it and to know that it has been accomplished.

Serge Gaudreau
Senior Designer, Instructional Systems

Video Summary

The most rewarding aspects are the meetings with the astronauts because they put the training they receive here into practice. With Dextre being the final component of the Space Station's Mobile Servicing System, it is quite something, and we know that it is the final component. Unfortunately, I have never experienced a launch on site at the Kennedy Space Center, but they're always exciting, and, we're always wondering, in the back of our minds, if something is going to go wrong in the first eight minutes of flight—the most critical time—or, as we saw with Colombia, upon re-entry. It's nerve-racking!

Once Dextre is deployed, we hope that they'll start to use it. We have already seen that they changed batteries, and Dextre can now perform such tasks that used to be performed by an astronaut on a spacewalk. At that point, our hope is that it will really be used because, from a performance standpoint, we have no doubt in its capability. Canadarm2 has already demonstrated its effectiveness. For the most part, the same team produced, developed, and built Dextre. There are so many technological developments in the field of software. What is being done is truly amazing. To see how astronauts can perform like that in zero gravity, using the Canadarm, and soon using Dextre's, is always very, very exciting.

Laurie Metcalfe
MSS Mission Operations Analyst

Video Summary

I think what motivated me to study science and engineering, especially related to space, was one of my earliest childhood memories was every Sunday morning we would go to church and my mom would curl my hair. She was a big Star Trek fan, so Star Trek was always on as she was sitting there curling my hair, and so I just grew up with it, and sspace exploration was just always something I wanted to be involved with. I've always had an interest in physics, so engineering seemed to be the logical route to go.

I'm still just the same little girl who was just fascinated by astronauts and rockets and so, yeah, I get a thrill every time I see the shuttle take off. When the next shuttle goes up and I know that it's carrying something that I've worked on, well, I get shivers just thinking about it.

If you really want to follow your dreams, staying in school is the best way to do it. There really... an education, you can't go wrong. You know, the more education you get, the better off you'll be to really be able to follow your dreams. There's different routes of education, but starting in school, staying in school is definitely the best way to go.

Michel Wander
Engineer Systems

Video Summary

I've actually had the chance to witness two launches in person, and it's spectacular – not so much for what you see, but for what you feel and hear. The power of a launch is impressive when you actually feel the reverberations in your body, and it's astounding that just a matter of minutes later what was sitting still on the pad is in orbit around earth.

I would say stay in school simply because it provides opportunities. Study, get good marks. Learn how to learn; don't just learn how to study.

Nellie Lapointe
Communications Advisor

Video Summary

In fact, I started studying law, but quickly realized that my place was in communications, event organization, participation, precisely, what is going on outside but in the context of law. So, I decided to pursue communications, and things just clicked, and I was thrilled and interested in what I could bring to it. Oddly enough, when I was young I always loved space. I always dreamed of working in that field, though, science was not for me. I would have loved to be an aerospace engineer or an astrophysicist. Now, I get the best of both worlds, I work in a scientific field, where I also do communications work. For me, it is both really exciting and rewarding.

Daniel Lefebvre
Staff Systems Engineer

Video Summary

My wish for Dextre is the successful deployment. In other words, that it survives the launch, everything goes well with that, that we can deploy it properly, and, in the end, basically show the world what we can do when it comes time to doing the maintenance of the station. That's pretty well about it. Right there, it's a big order. At this point, it really is just the beginning of the next phase. Now, it's been a lot of work. It will be, ahh, I guess it'll be a bit sad seeing it go, but on the other hand, it's just the whole waiting for it to do what it's intended to do is going to be quite a trip.

Ken Podwalski
Manager Mission Operations

Video Summary

Me, I'm very fortunate. I think I have the benefit of working in an environment and having a job where I have that luxury of there's always excitement, there's always things going on, there's always people asking me about, oh, you know, did the space shuttle launch yesterday? And, yes, it did. I mean, my world actually changes and revolves around vehicles launching into space, and the Space Station orbiting around the earth, and working with astronauts. So I think all of that comes together as being a very rich environment that actually keeps you very motivated. There's a lot of work to be done. Very often it's very stressful. It's under a lot of pressure. But at the same time, you look at what you're doing and how important it is and how rewarding that feeling can be of doing that work, and it actually makes for a good balance to keep you motivated and keep you very interested in what you're doing.

I think what motivated me to come into this field of study and get into sciences and space was the cool factor. I think you look at this kind of job, you look at this kind of work, and there's no getting around the idea that it is going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be excitement, it's going to be huge endeavours that require tens of thousands of people to work together, and that's one of those things that you look at and go, you want to be part of something that's that big.

Stéphane Rondeau
Project Engineer, Ground Segment

Video Summary

This is my calling. I knew early on that I wanted to become an engineer. Very, very early on—in high school, I would say. I was sure that I would be going into something technical. It was really over time, at university, when I was doing my BA that I could see myself working in the field of space, etc. That's when I really began my journey towards a career in space, and, once I started, there was no looking back. Someone once told me something very wise. He said: "The cost of not going to school is much greater than the cost of going to school." The consequences of not going to school are that doors to opportunity are not opened, etc. It is much more rewarding to go to school and explore all possibilities.

Space is the new frontier. I imagine that the young people who saw Christopher Columbus sail to the New World were impressed and wondered what was on the other side. Well, today, space is that New World.

Viqar Abbasi
Technical Manager Training Systems

Video Summary

For me, I was really motivated to study science and technology purely to get into the space program. I attended a conference at the International Astronautical Congress – it was held in Montreal in 1991 – and I was seeing that actually all the science fiction on TV is actually happening in reality. There are companies, there's agencies that are doing amazing things in space, and I wanted to be a part of that.

I think I wanted to be an astronaut on and off throughout this program. There are times where it seems just so amazing to be up there in space, and then there's other times it seems difficult to be away, from so much training all over the world, for a short mission. So, there's pros and cons to being an astronaut, but the great thing is that there are roles and responsibilities on ground and you're just as much involved with the space program as you are whether you're an astronaut or not.

Serge Gaudreau
Senior Designer, Instructional Systems

Video Summary

Dextre has fifteen degrees of freedom. Each arm has seven degrees of freedom and the base, which can rotate, has one more degree of freedom. So, that's seven, plus seven, plus one, which equals fifteen degrees of freedom. Degrees of freedom refer to the ability of the extremity to move, such as to roll, to pitch, to move up and down, and to move from left or right, which is known as yaw. We have that capability with the tip of Dextre's hand. The elbow bends, just as we can bend our elbows. That's another degree of freedom. At the shoulder, there is also three degrees of freedom. Therefore, it can roll, it can turn from left to right and move up and down. So, that's seven degrees of freedom for an arm, seven for the other arm, and the base turns so it can move cameras to be able to see different angles with cameras since cameras are placed on Dextre's base.