Another Space Race – Pioneering Satellite Repair Robots

Another Space Race – Pioneering Satellite Repair Robots

A new kind of space race is in full thrust right now. Just not the one you think. It doesn't involve billionaires pioneering next-frontier tourism; rather, it's a furious scramble of established players and startups looking to push the boundaries of "space logistics." Planting a flag in the past 18 months: Northrop Grumman NOC , first to launch a "satellite life extension craft," its Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV-1). In late February 2020, MEV-1 successfully performed an automated rendezvous with a non-transmitting satellite, Intelsat I 901, in need of an in-orbit service check and a fuel-up – something never done before. This past spring, MEV-2 successfully docked to a telecommunications satellite (the Intelsat 10-02) still transmitting but running out of propellant. Additionally, Northrop Grumman has begun work on remote-controlled space garbage clean-up vehicles. Meanwhile, engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., are working on the launch of OSAM-1, an unmanned craft, equipped with a robotic arm, able to reach and rehabilitate aging government satellites. Its inaugural mission is three years away. Pasadena-based Motiv Space Systems, which furnished NASA with the seven-foot-long, five-degrees-of-freedom-equipped robotic arm utilized by the Mars Rover, has custom built a brand new modular robotic arm