Footage from China's space station demonstrates how its enormous robotic arm can "crawl" along the spacecraft's exterior.
The Chinese Manned Space Agency (CMSA) has released a new video showing the space station's 33.5-foot-long (10.2-meter) robotic arm rising from behind the Tianhe module and reaching out to find a docking port in the foreground.
The footage was obtained by the Tianhe core module's panorama camera D, which launched to China's new Tiangong space station in April 2021.
The CMSA is constructing Tiangong, a low-Earth-orbiting space station. Tianhe, the first of three modules for the orbiting space station, was launched first, with China aiming to complete construction by the end of 2022. For at least a decade, CMSA wants to keep Tiangong inhabited continuously by three astronauts. Many experiments from China and other countries will be held on the space station.
Tiangong, which means "Heavenly Palace," is made up of Tianhe, the main housing for astronauts, and two experiment modules, Mengtian and Wentian, both of which are scheduled to launch in 2022. The Shenzhou spacecraft will launch from Jiuquan in the Gobi Desert, carrying three astronauts to the space station, while the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft will launch from Wenchang on the Chinese island of Hainan, carrying supplies and fuel to the station.
The robotic arm has been utilized in a variety of operations, including supporting crews with extravehicular activities, also known as spacewalks, as well as system and apparatus checks. The robotic arm has also been used by space station technicians and astronauts to hold and handle the Tianzhou 2 supply spacecraft, which arrived at the station last year.
The Tianhe robotic arm will be used to relocate new modules scheduled to arrive in orbit in the second half of 2022 from frontal docking ports to lateral docking ports, completing the intended T-shaped Tiangong space station.
Canadarm2, a similar robotic arm that was deployed on the International Space Station in 2001, can similarly traverse the station using fixtures on the exterior. It also transports large cargo and provides assistance to astronauts during spacewalks.
Tiangong will be a fraction of the size of the International Space Station, with only three modules compared to the ISS's 16 modules. Tiangong will also be lighter than the ISS, which now weighs around 400 tons (450 metric tons) after Russia's Nauka module was recently added.
Once finished, Tiangong will be joined by Xuntian, a massive Hubble-like space observatory that will share the space station's orbit and be able to dock for repairs, maintenance, and possibly upgrades.
