Submission + - NASA's zero-gravity robotic-arm quid pro quo (canadianmanufacturing.com)
AndreV writes: "We've entered into an extraterrestrial quid pro quo with our Northern neighbors: After celebrating 25 years of the Canadarm's first venture into space, NASA has reached out (so to speak) to the Canadian Space Agency and begun research and development on a new generation of robotic arms, which would ultimately be used for the U.S. agency's Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle that will provide transportation for Moon missions and jaunts to the international space station. In exchange, Canada will trade the robotic-limb technology's use on Orion and other future U.S-manned spacecraft for flight time for Canadian astronauts. And seeing solid results shouldn't be far off—the engineering company designing the bionic branch, responsible for the previous Canadarms, has already begun investigating the effects of zero gravity on their components. (Another forward-looking project being bartered for astronaut time? A Moon and Mars rover.) Fair trade?"
