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Oh, Canada...

In 1969, Canada was invited by the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to participate in the Space Shuttle program. At the time what that participation would entail had not yet been decided but a manipulator system was identified as an important component.
A little-known, small canadian company, DSMA Atcon had developed a robot that attracted NASA's attention. DSMA Atcon had a deep involvement in the CANDU nuclear program, having designed, built and tested the remote control fuelling machines for the original CANDU reactors. "Atcon" stood for "Advanced Technology consultants".

In 1970 Lloyd Secord, CEO of DSMA Atcon approached NASA looking for work on another project which did not eventuate. Because of the DSMA Atcon experience with remote manipulators the remote arm for the shuttle came up in conversation.

NASA was interested in outsourcing the arm but only to a "national" level entity. Lloyd took this back to Canada where a consortium of 4 companies was formed to make the bid.

There was a history between DSMA and SPAR as competitors in the nuclear engineering. Because of the "national" requirement the Canadian government had to be involved.
Politics and concern that DSMA Atcon was too small lead to a decision that SPAR would have the lead role.
The relationship between DSMA and SPAR was somewhat strained because of this. Also, the problem of how to grab a spinning satellite had to be resolved. DSMA Atcon designed a lot of the testing equipment for qualifying the arm. This was a difficult problem as the arm was too light and flexible to operate under full Earth gravity.
A solution was proposed to support the arm on air bearings and test it in the horizontal plane normal to the gravitational effect. But it would take a large facility with a very smooth floor for the air bearings and testing of the arm joints.

NASA, of course, had a solution.

Far from Canada icy temperatures – in very hot Houston, Texas - Caldwell Johnson proposed that astronauts test prototype Space Shuttle manipulators during Apollo Command and Service Module (CSM) missions in Earth orbit.

(from there - inspiration taken from David Portree blog Beyond Apollo)

Caldwell was co-holder with Maxime Faget of the Mercury capsule patent and chief of the Spacecraft Design Division at NASA’s Houston.

In a February 1971 memorandum to Faget Johnson described the manipulator test mission as a worthwhile alternative to the Earth survey, space rescue, and joint US/Soviet CSM missions then under study.
Johnson envisioned Shuttle manipulators capable of bending and gripping much as do human arms and hands, thus enabling them to hold onto virtually anything. He suggested that a pair of prototype arms be mounted in a CSM Scientific Instrument Module (SIM) Bay, and that the CSM “pretend to be a Shuttle” in operations with the derelict Skylab space station.

The CSM’s three-man crew could, he told Faget, use the manipulators to grip and move Skylab. They might also use them to demonstrate a space rescue, capture an “errant satellite,” or remove film from SIM Bay cameras and pass it to the astronauts through a special airlock installed in place of the docking unit in the CSM’s nose.

Faget enthusiastically received Johnson’s proposal. The proposal generated less enthusiasm elsewhere, however.

After the shuttle cancellation the robotic arm was transferred to the new space station.

In spring 1972 as the space station slowly took shape Caldwell Johnson renewed his pledge for testing of the robotic arm during the Apollo Soyuz Test Program flight in July 1975.

The robotic manipulator demonstration would take place after CSM-111 had undocked from the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft and moved away to perform independent maneuvers and experiments.

The astronauts in the CSM would first use a TV camera mounted on the arm’s wrist to inspect the CSM and DM, then would use the end effector to manipulate “some device” on the DM. They would then command the end effector to grip a handle on the DM, undock the DM from the CSM, and use the manipulator to redock the DM to the CSM. Finally, they would undock the DM and repeatedly capture it with the manipulator.

Johnson estimated that new hardware for the manipulator demonstration would add 168 pounds to the CM and 553 pounds to the SM. He expected that concept studies and pre-design would be completed in January 1973.Detail design would commence in October 1972 and be completed by July 1, 1973, at which time CSM-111 would undergo modification for the manipulator demonstration. Johnson envisioned that MSC would build two manipulators in house. The first, for testing and training, would be completed in January 1974. The flight unit would be completed in May 1974, tested and checked out by August 1974, and launched into orbit attached to CSM-111 in July 1975. Johnson optimistically placed the cost of the manipulator arm demonstration at just $25 million.

That's the moment when Canada entered the arena. An agreement was found with NASA to build the robotic arm in Canada. There was some issues with testing the arm under Earth 1-G – against the 0-G background.

As Caldwell initially suggested, Skylab would make an excellent target. Another issue was, what spacecraft to ferry the arm near Skylab ?

In the summer of 1972 Apollo-Soyuz was ruled out.
Competition was between unmanned Agena and manned Big Gemini.

The risk with the battered workshop however reduced the Big Gemini mission to a fly around without any connection, a mission that happened in 1977.

Instead an Agena would use the Canadarm to grapple the old workshop and dock to its front port so that it could be properly desorbited.

Then the issue of the launch vehicle was also heavily discussed. Many rockets did carried Agena as their upper stage. But how about a rocket from Canada ?

For two decades Canadair had build thousands of combat aircrafts for the RCAF - T-33, F-86, F-104, and F-5 American jets assembled under licence. The last CF-5 Tiger had rolled out of the production line in September 1971, marking the end of an era, and much like De Havilland Canada, the company was in trouble.

The popular CL-215 water bomber was only a niche, unable to secure the future of the company. The situation was so bad that DHC and Canadair foreign owners (British and American, respectively) were on the brink to jettison the companies. The situation was so bad that the Canadian government, remembering the Arrow debacle of 1959, had to buy both companies in 1973, saving thousands of high-skilled jobs.

(…)

When Europe dropped Europa II they also ditched the Blue Streak.
General Dynamics / Convair considered the Blue Streak as Atlas little brother – they had transferred Atlas technology to De Havilland back in 1956.

In 1972 General Dynamics bought back the Blue Streak from the moribund ELDO at a bargain price.
They bought the F12 vehicle that had already been shipped to Kourou. Boosters F13 to F18 were at varied stages of fabrication, and General Dynamics obtained them all at a bargain price.

They then proposed two variants, each to a different country.

To Europe they proposed a Blue Streak – Centaur, to no avail.

To Canada they proposed a Blue Streak Agena, with limited success, at least initially.
It happened that Canadair was a filial of GD-Convair since 1952. Canadian Blue Streak could be build under licence. With or without the Canadian government GD would market the Blue Streak Agena as a low-cost competitor to Thorad, Delta, and Titan IIIB.

That's the moment when a man called John Herbert Chapman stepped in.
...
On September 29, 1962 the Canadian-built Alouette I satellite was launched into orbit aboard a Thor-Agena launch vehicle from the U.S. Pacific Missile Test Range in California. It was the first satellite launched into space which was built entirely by a country other that the U.S. or the U.S.S.R.
The Alouette/ISIS Program consisted of four satellites and associated ground-based data analysis equipment. After the successful launch of Alouette I, Alouette II was launched in 1965, ISIS-I in 1969 and ISIS-II in 1971 (ISIS is an acronym for "International Satellite for Ionospheric Studies").
Both Alouette satellites were used for ten years, and the ISIS satellites were used until 1984, when the program was concluded.

Early in the history of space exploration, Canadian researchers in space science concentrated on the study of the earth's upper atmosphere and the ionosphere. This was due to the need to understand the characteristics of radio communication in the Canadian North. This area of study was not as predominant a component of the space science effort of other countries and therefore the Alouette/ISIS Program was able to make a major and unique contribution.

This effort led to the realization that a satellite communications system would be the best way to provide a communications infrastructure for all of Canada, including the North.
A very concrete result of this was the launch by NASA for Telesat Canada of Anik A1, a telecommunications satellite designed to satisfy Canada's domestic communications requirements

John Herbert Chapman was convinced of the need to develop the capability to design and build space hardware in Canadian industry and to move away from the practice of relying solely on the expertise of the government laboratories. As a result, Alouette II and the ISIS satellites were built, with steadily increasing participation by Canadian industry.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS SATELLITES

In 1967, a report was produced by a committee chaired by John Chapman, which recommended a redirection of Canada's effort in space from space science and toward telecommunications and land survey. The culmination of this was the launch in 1972 of Anik A1.
With the successful placement of this satellite on station, approximately 36,000 km above the equator, Canada became the first country to have a domestic geostationary communications satellite system. The Anik A series of satellites was built by Hughes Aircraft Corporation of the United States.

In 1972, in the wake of the American space shuttle cancellation the visionary Chapman manage to sold a “space package” to the Trudeau government.

It consisted of the Anik A and B communication satellites; ISIS sensors on a new platform (either an Agena or the American space station); the Agena space tug carrying the Canadarm; and the Blue Streak launch vehicle, the latter two build by Canadair under a licence from Convair and Lockheed.

In 1972 General Dynamics Convair retrieved the British Blue Streak rocket from the ruin of the Europa program. Since the early 50's General Dynamics owned part of Canadair, and Chapman saw an opportunity.

General Dynamics atempt to sell the Blue Streak on the U.S launch market were doomed from the beginning – even as a little brother to Convair's Atlas it faced the Delta and Titan IIIB vehicles.

Chapman went to General Dynamic headquarters and proposed the Blue Streak should be build by Canadair in Valquartier.

Chapman real stroke of genius was the integration of the Agena ontop of the Blue Streak. Chapman arguments was that the Blue Streak Agena was powerful enough to launch the Anik communication satellites; and, as a space tug the Agena would fly canadian payloads to NASA coming space station. The Agena would be outfitted with the Canadarm, another major Canadian program. The Agena would use the Canadarm to grab a space station and haul itself to docking.

The astute Chapman suggested to reuse sensors from the ISIS satellite ( ISIS stands for International Satellite for Ionospheric Studies). The ISIS sensors could be carried by either a fly alone Agena or, more interestingly, be integrated into the U.S space station science package. Chapman noted that, from its vantage point 200 miles high the space station was well placed to study the iniosphere three layers.

The D layer is the innermost layer, 60 km (37 mi) to 90 km (56 mi) above the surface of the Earth. The E layer is the middle layer, 90 km (56 mi) to 150 km (93 mi) above the surface of the Earth. The F layer or region, also known as the Appleton-Barnett layer, extends from about 150 km (93 mi) to more than 500 km (310 mi) above the surface of Earth.

Chapman proposed that an Agena outfitted with ISIS sensors be launched in a 100 miles orbit, then dive into the ionosphere D layer.

General Dynamics proposed the Canadian government flew its Blue Streak Agena out of Atlas launch complexes at The Cape.

Yet consideration was also given to build a dedicated Canadian launch pad at the Churchill Rocket Research Range, in the Far North.

The Blue Streak Agena come too late to launch the first two Anik satellites, so they rode to orbit atop Delta rockets from The Cape late 1972 and early 1973.

After 1975 the third Anik A and the experimental Hermès / CTS flew on the Canadian launcher. The unique Anik B followed in 1978.