NASA to try new fix for space station's new robot

By Irene Klotz

HOUSTON (Reuters) - NASA will try again on Friday to power up a Canadian robotic system delivered to the International Space Station by visiting U.S. space shuttle Endeavour along with the first segment of Japan's new Kibo laboratory.

A design flaw in an electrical circuit has left the $209 million robot, named Dextre, without heaters to protect its systems from the minus 200-degree Fahrenheit temperatures of space.

The robot is designed to add manual dexterity and another 30 feet of reach to the space station's crane to assist with detailed exterior maintenance tasks.

"There was a design problem," said LeRoy Cain, head of NASA's shuttle mission management team. "It was not done the way it should have been done."

Engineers attempted to fix the problem with a software patch, but later discovered a hardware error was to blame. The next step is to have the shuttle crew plug in the robot to an electrical connection on the station's crane instead, Cain said.

The 1.5 tonne Dextre, which has 11-foot-long (3.4-metre) arms and was brought up in nine pieces, can last until Tuesday or Wednesday without heating, he added.

If power to the robot is successfully restored, a spacewalk to resume its assembly will take place as planned on Saturday. If not, NASA would delay the outing, possibly using a spacewalk planned for later in the flight to test a heat shield repair technique.

The Endeavour crew, which reached the station on Wednesday, plans to conduct five spacewalks during their 12-day construction and servicing call to the station.