European Robotic Arm

European Robotic Arm

The European Robotic Arm seen attached to the Nauka module on 29 April 2022
Module statistics
Part of	International Space Station
Launch date	21 July 2021, 14:58:25 UTC
Launch vehicle	Proton-M
Docked	29 July 2021, 13:29:01 UTC
Mass	630 kilograms (1,390 lb)
Length	11.3 metres (37 ft)
Configuration
Rendering of European Robotic Arm on Nauka Module

The European Robotic Arm (ERA) is a robotic arm that is attached to the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) of the International Space Station. Launched to the ISS in July 2021; it is the first robotic arm that is able to work on the Russian Segment of the station. The arm supplements the two Russian Strela cargo cranes that were originally installed on the Pirs module, but were later moved to the docking compartment Poisk^[1] and Zarya module.^[2]

The ERA was developed for the European Space Agency (ESA) by a number of European space companies. Airbus Defence and Space Netherlands (formerly Dutch Space) designed and assembled the arm and was the prime contractor; it worked along with subcontractors in 8 countries. In 2010, a spare elbow joint for the arm and ERA's Portable Workpost was launched preemptively, attached to Rassvet or Mini Research Module 1(MRM-1). The Nauka Module and Prichal module serves as home base for ERA; originally, the arm was going to be attached to the canceled Russian Research Module and later to the also canceled Science Power Platform.^[3]