A robotic arm attached to the exterior of the International Space Station has been hit by small space junk, but agencies monitoring ISS said it hasn't caused any major damage to the robotic arm and that it would continue to carry out the near-term operation.
The robotic arm "canadarm2" was provided by Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and has been in orbit since 2001. Its ¡°primary function is to move objects outside the station and to help in maintaining and repairing works in the station.¡±
Scientists say the damage to the canadarm2 has been caused by small debris which has caused a "lucky strike"? given the relatively small size of the arm, which is 57.7 feet (17.6 meters) long and has a diameter of just 14 inches (35 cm).
The hole was noticed by the observers on May 12 when they went out for inspection and was informed about it in a blog post on May 28. However, the size of the hole is not apparent in the pictures, nor if the debris went all the way through.
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Both NASA and CSA have said the ISS will continue to do its assigned work.?
Space Junk is a major issue of concern among the space scientists community as numbers of CubeSat launches arrive there in fleets for broadband services and other applications. To give some perspective, just SpaceX sends Starlinks to ISS almost every week.?
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Some of the leftovers of the satellites then start orbiting intersecting with where ISS operates. Besides, natural dust and other objects are also a cause of concern. "A number of tiny objects ¨C ranging from rock or dust particles to flecks of paint from satellites ¨C are ¡ too small to be monitored," CSA said about debris in the blog post.?
Nonetheless, ISS is constantly observed by the US Space Surveillance Network which keeps a close track of at least 23,000 known pieces of space debris in orbit.
The agency alert ISS of any junk that comes in the way of its orbit or NASA can instruct astronomers to take shelter in case there is a grave concern.?