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posted by janrinok on Wednesday July 22 2015, @06:33PM   Printer-friendly

NASA's Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM), a groundbreaking demonstration of new satellite-servicing technologies and techniques, recently resumed operations on the space station after a two-year hiatus. Within five days, the RRM team had outfitted the RRM module with fresh hardware for a series of technology demonstrations and tested a new, multi-capability inspection tool.

"The International Space Station is the ultimate test bed for new technologies," explains Benjamin Reed, deputy project manager of the Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office (SSCO) at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "It gives us the opportunity to practice and test technologies in an environment that just cannot be replicated on the ground."

Known by its creative team as the "little ISS experiment that could," RRM broke uncharted ground in 2011-2013 with a set of activities that debuted robotic tools and procedures to refuel the propellant tanks of existing satellites. Its second phase of operations, which took place in April and May and will resume again later in 2015, offers something entirely different and just as disruptive, says Reed.

"We've outfitted the RRM module with new hardware so we can shift our focus to satellite inspection, instrument life extension, and even techniques for instrument swap-out," says Reed. Such servicing technologies could open new possibilities for owners of spacecraft in low and geosynchronous Earth orbit, he says.

Limited options currently exist for satellite owners when the unexpected occurs on orbit. If a solar array fails to deploy, or a micrometeorite strike affects a spacecraft's component, there is typically no way to see the potential cause of the anomaly or the extent of the damage. Even healthy satellites will eventually deplete the valuable commodities that keep them, and their instruments, running at top condition. The SSCO team, the creators of RRM, want to change the status quo.

"We envision a future where robots, outfitted with a caddy stocked with tools, can help satellite owners diagnose and deliver timely aid to their spacecraft – ultimately extending their service lives," says Frank Cepollina, veteran leader of the five servicing missions to the Hubble Space Telescope, and current associate director of the Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office. "Each task that RRM demonstrates gives NASA and the fledgling satellite-servicing community the confidence that these capabilities are real, that the technologies are proven, and that they can eventually work on a subsequent mission."

[...]

"Step by step," says Cepollina, "these technologies are building essential capabilities that, in turn, equip us to boldly build and maintain a robust space infrastructure. Keep on watching RRM on the International Space Station. There is more to come."


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2015, @11:30PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2015, @11:30PM (#212517)

    Coders: There is no closing tag after "Original Submission".
    The fortune|QotD gets included in the link. [soylentnews.org]

    -- gewg_