The International Space Station has suffered damage after being struck by a small piece of orbital debris, which punched a hole in the Candian-made Candarm 2 robotic arm, which repairs and maintains the exterior of the station.
The Canadian Space Agency has noted the incident as a “lucky strike” given that the arm’s performance remains unaffected and the damage was limited to a small section of the arm boom and thermal blanket.
“Canadarm2 is continuing to conduct its planned operations, including hoisting Dextre into position to replace a faulty power switchbox (Remote Power Control Module),” the CSA said, referring to its third telemanipulator robot, teh Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) or ‘Dextre’.
“Over 23,000 objects the size of a softball or larger are tracked 24/7 to detect potential collisions with satellites and the International Space Station (ISS). A number of tiny objects—ranging from rock or dust particles to flecks of paint from satellites—are also too small to be monitored,” CSA noted.
The U.S. Space Surveillance Network keeps close track of at least 23,000 known softball-sized or larger pieces of space debris in orbit. The ISS is capable of altering its position slightly to avoid such particles.
