Links to the Breadcrumb trail
- Opinion
- Column
Publication date:
June 8, 2022 • 18 minutes ago • Read in 5 minutes
Content of the article
Stretching Canadarm on his first shuttle voyage in 1981, the astronaut was able to manipulate the equipment as an extension of his own hand to catch, hold and transport equipment into space. Back on Earth, NASA teams applauded, especially Canadarm project manager Gary Lindberg, who along with his teams were the innovative designers of the shuttle remote manipulator system, Canada’s contribution to the space shuttle program.
Raised with two brothers in the provincial town of Rimbi, Altai, Lindbergh’s childhood southwest of Edmonton was full of scientific principles passed down from his father. Elder Lindberg has adopted “the latest strains and methods of growing plants and animals studied by agricultural scientists,” Courtney Tower wrote in “Our People” in the Alta Vista-Canterbury Community Newspaper, Vistas, April 2018.
Advertising 2
This ad is not yet loaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
“Work and responsibility come through his small ‘partnerships’ with his children,” Tower said, “everyone has their own small plots to sow or their own calves to raise.” After graduating from high school in Red Deer at the age of 15, Lindberg received an admission to the University of Alberta. In 1960 he graduated in engineering physics.
After receiving an Athlone Fellowship, Lindbergh attended the University of Cambridge in England. (Leading universities in Cambridge include researchers such as Stephen Hawking, Charles Darwin, Alan Turing, Sir Charles Newton, and many others.) In 1964, Lindbergh returned to Canada with her doctorate in mechanical engineering. That same year, Lindberg accepted a position on the national aviation organization of the National Research Council in Ottawa.
Competition between the Soviet Union and the United States came to the fore in the mid-1950s, when the Cold War turned to the skies and unexplored space. To the surprise of the Americans, the Soviets developed the R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile and launched Sputnik 1 into space. The deteriorating Americans could not lead the USSR in the polls. The space race has begun.
The satellite “was the first artificial satellite in the world … the size of a beach ball (58 centimeters or 22.5 inches in diameter), weighed only 83.6 kilograms or 183.9 pounds and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth. along its elliptical path “, according to the NASA Department of History. “This launch has given rise to new political, military, technological and scientific developments.
Advertising 3
This ad is not yet loaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
Early NASA missions launched rockets, satellites and humans into space. Much of the expensive equipment is for single use only, and a plan to develop reusable shuttles emerged in the 1970s. Along with the transport equipment, a robotic arm is also considered necessary. The Canadians were prepared for the challenge.
The spacecraft will be complex, sophisticated and innovative. The request from NASA was short, according to the Canadian Space Agency: “build a tool that works flawlessly in space with the dexterity of a human hand.” The initial goals were to launch new satellites, retrieve older ones and repair satellites.
“In 1974, Lindbergh was appointed project manager for the shuttle remote control system, or Canadarm, Canada’s most famous space achievement,” said the University of Alberta’s Medium Space People in Medium, 2017.
Involving collaborations with scientists and technicians, the 33-year-old project leader’s tasks also include working with NASA and several Canadian companies to build the distinctive equipment. Performers include SPAR Aerospace (special products / applied research), CAE Electronic, DSMA Atcon (engineering firm Dilworth Secord Meagher and Associates) and RCA Limited, the Canadian subsidiary of RCA Corporation in the United States.
The robotic arm is made of carbon composites, multiple layers of graphic epoxy, stainless steel and aluminum. Functioning as a human limb, the 15.2-meter (50-foot) 38-centimeter (15-inch) SRMS is constructed of several boom parts, with shoulder, elbow and wrist joints.
Advertising 4
This ad is not yet loaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
The heavy hand could catch things with its “hand” and “should be able to unload the contents of the payload compartment of the space shuttle,” said the Canadian Space Agency. Weighing about 410 kilograms on Earth, Canadarm is designed to lift and maneuver payloads of up to 30,000 kilograms. With microgravity, it can lift payloads over 260,000 kilograms.
A white thermal blanket covered his arm to protect delicate electronics and parts of extremes. The multi-layer blanket “consists of layers of adorable kapton, Dacron fabric and beta fabric outer cover,” according to the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers in The Canadarm’s Shuttle Remote Manipulator System. The cover included “thermostatically controlled electric heaters (resistive elements) attached to critical mechanical and electronic hardware”, providing heat during the intense cold of space when out of sunshine.
Equipped with CCTV cameras at the elbow and wrist joints, the robotic arm was computer-controlled by the space shuttle’s general-purpose computer. The astronauts used hand-held controllers to “tell the computer what they would like the astronauts to do with their hands.”
Canadarm launched into space with the Columbia space shuttle on November 13, 1981. Success led to four more robotic arms created for NASA, providing three decades of service with a wide range of tasks. (Two of Canadarm’s machines were destroyed in horrific events when the Challenger exploded in 1985 and the catastrophic collapse of Colombia in 2003.) The space shuttle program ended in July 2011 with the last flight to Atlantis. Canadarm proved to be a valuable contribution, on duty for 90 missions.
Advertising 5
This ad is not yet loaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
With the triumphant release of the robotic arm, Lindbergh set out on new aerospace projects. In 1982, he “led the NRC’s efforts to explore and develop aircraft and space systems,” Tower said, “including the wind tunnels still visible at Uplands Airport.”
Lindbergh “became executive director of the NRC’s space division in 1986 and played a key role in the creation of the Canadian Space Agency in 1989,” said the University of Alberta. The scientist served “as his vice president of research and applications until his retirement in 1997.
Enjoying the job of selecting candidates, Lindbergh and the space agency chose outstanding astronauts Mark Garnot, Chris Hadfield, Julie Payet, Roberta Bondar and others. “We chose quite well,” Lindberg told the Tower. Each of the Canadian astronauts has made extraordinary careers after his space adventures. “They were and they’re all pretty amazing people.”
After retiring, Lindbergh used his talents for the benefit of his community. Living in the Alta Vista neighborhood of Ottawa for most of his life, the CEO and his wife Daryl raised two sons. Younger men from Lindbergh are environmental scientists at federal government agencies. (Before retiring, Daryl Lindberg worked in social services. She also shared her skills with a hospice and a church.)
In 2008, the University of Alberta presented Gary Lindbergh with the Alumni Award. In addition, in 2017 he was named a member of the Order of Canada. The award was not only for his contribution to the creation of Canada’s space programs, but also for “more than 20 years of volunteering for local initiatives and community events.”
Lindbergh’s brilliance and commitment to the space program helped secure Canada’s place as a world leader in robotics and scientific innovation.
Susanna McLeod is a writer living in Kingston.
Share this article on your social network
Advertising 1
This ad is not yet loaded, but your article continues below.
Add Comment