Canada to train astronauts for space station using simulation software

Canadian Industry Minister James Moore (Photo from Moore’s official Facebook page)

OTTAWA – Canadian Industry Minister James Moore announced Monday that new simulator systems will be used to train astronauts and flight controllers to operate Canada’s two robotic contributions – Canadarm2 and Dextre – to the International Space Station (ISS).

Montreal-based L-3 MAPPS was awarded with a contract of 5 million Canadian dollars (about USD 3.92 million) over five years to provide simulation software to maintain the Canadian Space Agency’s flight simulator training facility located in the French-speaking province of Quebec, said Moore.

The training facility is situated at the CSA’s Mobile Servicing System (MSS) operations complex – considered to be Canada’s version of NASA’s mission control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas – from where flight controllers and astronauts learn how to operate Canadarm2 and Dextre from the ground and space, respectively.

Canadarm2 is a 17-meter-long robotic that is routinely used to move supplies, equipment and astronauts as well as capturing and docking unpiloted spacecraft that transport everything from science payloads to necessities for the six-person crew on board the ISS.

Dextre is believed to be the most sophisticated space robot ever built. The Canadian-built, double-armed “space handyman” is meant to keep the ISS “ship-shape” by performing such maintenance work and repairs as changing batteries and replacing cameras outside the space station. It can also hitch a ride on the end of the Canadarm2 to move between worksites, according to CSA.

Canada, along with the United States, Russia, Europe and Japan, is a partner in the ISS and its contribution is the MSS robotics suite that assembles the station in space and which consists of the Canadarm2, Dextre and the Mobile Base System (MBS) – a moveable work platform and storage facility.