Canadarm By: Dani Brazeal

The Canadarm is arguably our country’s greatest space invention. The company who invented this masterpiece was SPAR aerospace, a company founded in Canada. The Canadarm was a very useful invention with a lot of fascinating features. Today it can be known for being a Canadian icon and something most, if not all, Canadians are very proud of. The Canadarm has proved itself to be a very important machine for all astronauts, even though it can’t lift its own weight here on Earth.

The date was November 13, 1981 when the Canadarm was introduced to space. It started off as an idea thought of by the National Research Council of Canada. It was then brought to NASA, and sent to be built by SPAR aerospace. This company was founded in 1967 by John MacNaughten, and is based in Toronto, Ontario. So, ultimately the Canadarm was a team effort. It was taken to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida where it was launched with space shuttle Columbia. Within the 30 years Canadarm was still operating, it flew 90 times on all of NASA’s space shuttles: Columbia, Discovery, Atlantis, Challenger, and Endeavour. It then retired in July 2011 and was placed in the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum.

The Canadarm is overall an amazing- yet complicated- piece of machinery which was equipped with many complex features. The arm weighed a total of 1,497 kilograms and was 17 metres long. Canadarm was an electrical arm which was covered in a long, white sleeve with Canada’s logo located on the shoulder and wrist sections. It had three joints, the shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints. Each joint could twist and turn, and bend and move in different ways in order to perform Canadarm’s tasks. Some of the arm’s tasks were to position astronauts, keep equipment in shape, arrange, fix, and grab satellites, and transport cargo. Canadarm had two video cameras equipped to the wrist section so astronauts inside the space shuttle could see what was going on, from a closer perspective.

To this day, Canadarm has been remembered for helping in the fields of Canadian robotics and astro dynamics. It really is something all Canadians should admire. Canadians should also admire the new and improved Canadarm: Canadarm2! Launched in April of 2001, Canadarm2 is just like the Canadarm, but it’s bigger, stronger, and better. Canadarm2 is permanently attached to the International Space Station (ISS) along with it’s little friend, Dextre. Dextre is a two-armed machine which was added to the ISS on March 11, 2008. It sits right at the tip of Canadarm2, so they can help out on the ISS together. But, they are both used for different things. Canadarm2 does the same jobs that Canadarm did, and Dextre is used for replacing cameras and charging batteries, so it’s a maintenance robot. They were both created by MacDonald, Dettwiler, and Associates, another Canadian company. Both Dextre and Canadarm2 still have a home on the ISS, and probably will continue to for at least another 10 years.

The Canadarm has shown a lot of excellent examples about how it is important to Canadian history. It plays a big role in Canada’s partnership with NASA. If it wasn’t for Canadarm, NASA wouldn’t be recruiting half as many Canadian astronauts and companies as they do today. The Canadarm also has proven that it is a very elaborate and detailed machine. It inspired Canadarm2, which is ultimately more elaborate and more detailed than the original. Although it’s not quite the same, Dextre was also a result of Canadarm inspiration. So, now it is clear to see that Canadarm has proved itself to be a great invention in Canadian history.