The International Space Station鈥檚 new mobile transporter froze during its first test 400 km above the Earth鈥檚 surface at 1350 GMT on Monday. NASA hopes a software repair should remedy the problem.
The transporter should have travelled six metres along a set of rails attached to the station鈥檚 Destiny science module. But a locking mechanism failed to activate during the test and the arm automatically shut it self down after five metres.
鈥淕round controllers are looking at the problem but they don鈥檛 believe it is serious,鈥� a NASA spokesman says. 鈥淭hey believe it is a software problem.鈥�
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The spokesman says that engineers at Johnson Space Center in Houston will attempt to upload new software to get the transporter moving again.
The device will eventually be used to manoeuvre the outpost鈥檚 $600m Canadarm2 robotic arm about the station. The mobile robot arm will be key to completing construction of a 109-metre frame atop the station.
Astronauts who arrived on the space shuttle Atlantis installed the first piece of the frame, the 13.5-metre 13-tonne S-Zero truss, during a spacewalk performed on Friday. Eight more pieces will be added to complete the frame, which will eventually hold a 100-metre new solar panel array.