As Russia launched an offensive against the Ukrainian military on Earth, space echoed the calm, technical Russian of two cosmonauts installing a European component on the International Space Station during a spacewalk. “Before you tighten it, make sure the adapter is snug against the arm…yes.”
During a 6-hour, 37-minute spacewalk, Oleg Artemev and Denis Matveyev began installing the European Robotic Arm (ERA), a 11.3-meter (11.3-meter) robotic arm with seven rotating joints that can move heavy parts outside the ISS. ERA was built under the supervision of Dutch Space in Leiden (now Airbus Defense and Space Netherlands). Two-thirds of the costs of 360 million euros were financed by the Netherlands.
“It was wonderful to see our robotic arm in space for the first time,” says Philippe Schoonejans, ERA project leader at the European Space Agency. Schoonejans and colleagues followed the progress at Estec, the ESA center in Noordwijk, via a secure video link with the Russian mission command just outside Moscow.
Fourteen years of delay
“We would otherwise have been there, but no one has traveled to Russia since the invasion,” says Schoonejans. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, cooperation on the ISS came into question. Dmitry Rogozin, the director of the Russian space agency appointed by Vladimir Putin, even threatened to crash the ISS over Europe or the US, but no concrete actions were taken.
NASA and ESA directors have now announced that the collaboration in ISS, a project by Russia, the US, Canada, Japan and the European Space Agency, is one of the few that will continue for the time being. The robotic arm was launched on July 21, 2021, attached to the Russian ISS module Nauka, after a 14-year delay due to technical problems with that module.
During the spacewalk, protective thermal blankets were removed from ERA, and an adapter was installed on which cargo can be prepared for transport with ERA. Four more spacewalks by Russian cosmonauts follow to further install and test ERA. “It is intended to move loads of up to eight tons in weightless conditions,” says Schoonejans, “you can’t really test that on earth, although we simulated a lot.”
You’re in a bulky spacesuit, everything floats away
Philippe Schoonejans Project Manager
After a possible backup mission by the Italian ESA astronaut Samantha Christoforetti, ERA has to tackle its first real job in August: installing a large radiator, a kind of cooling panel that allows the Nauka module to radiate excess heat. This is followed by the installation of an airlock, through which equipment for scientific experiments can be brought outside.
One of the next parts is a platform at the end of ERA, on which a spacewalker can stand as if on a cherry picker. During yesterday’s spacewalk, handles were attached to ERA in case the robot arm should fail and the spacewalker has to manually maneuver to safety.
Schoonejans: “They didn’t get a good hold of those handles at first. With such a relatively simple task you can see how difficult it is to work during a spacewalk. You’re in a bulky spacesuit, everything floats away, and those gloves are thick and clunky. At one point, a handle was even beaten by hand. But she succeeded.”