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Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
The high-altitude endeavor, undertaken by the orbital servicing enterprise Astroscale U.S., is slated to occur in the summer of 2026, the company announced this week. This Department of Defense-funded mission will see Astroscale's 660-pound craft refuel a satellite with the propellant hydrazine, then maneuver to a fueling depot to fill up with more fuel, and then refuel another asset. (All the involved assets haven't yet been revealed by the Space Force.)
It will be the first time a Space Force craft is refueled in orbit. Such a fuel shuttle could keep missions in space longer and eliminate the need for any craft to suspend its mission to retrieve thruster propellant. It's a novel type of full-service gas station.
"This changes fundamentally how we do things in space," Ian Thomas, Astroscale U.S.' Refueler Program Manager, told Mashable.
After launching, the refueled craft will travel to a region called geostationary orbit, which is a unique place around Earth where spacecraft orbit at same rate Earth is rotating — meaning they stay locked in the same position relative to our planet. There, Astroscale's craft will carefully approach its first Space Force satellite target, called Tetra-5, and transfer fuel. The refueler will then thrust away and inspect the scene with a specialized camera to ensure no valuable fuel is leaking. Then, the refueler will fly to a nearby fuel depot, or gas station, and attach and pull fuel from the depot before traveling to its second refueling target.
"The point of the mission is to make sure all the different parts are viable and work," Thomas explained. "You have a fuel depot, a client, and us."
[...] This isn't Astroscale's first orbital rodeo. In a separate mission intended to deorbit large pieces of space debris (called Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan), the company has already closely approached a large rocket stage to test close proximity maneuverability and reconnaissance; next up, an Astroscale spacecraft will use a robotic arm to bring the large 36-foot-long spent rocket stage down to Earth, in 2028.
But before then, the company may prove that running a fuel depot in Earth's orbit isn't just feasible; it could redefine how expensive orbiting spacecraft — whether used for national security, communications, or science — operate in space.
"If you run out of fuel, you run out of life," Thomas said.
(Score: 3, Informative) by zocalo on Sunday April 13, @02:26PM (2 children)
Long term, you probably do want to be making the hydrazine somewhere in a shallower gravity well than Earth's to improve overall efficiency of the re-fueling system, but that means finding somewhere with all the necessary raw materials to setup and run the production line and launch facilities from. This could also be really useful at scale for in-orbit assembly and fueling of the spacecraft that would be needed for any manned missions to other planets or the asteroid belt since it's going to be really cramped going all that way in even the largest capsule a Falcon Heavy might be able to lift in a single go. Bolting a few modules together in orbit, akin to the way the ISS was put together, is going to make for a lot more room for both passengers and equipment/experiments.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 2) by turgid on Sunday April 13, @04:07PM
A Falcon Heavy full of hydrazine? What could possibly go wrong?
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by driverless on Monday April 14, @02:28AM
Nah, it's gone beyond that, they've already issued contracts for the BX and PX, and are figuring out how to get bulldozers up there to dig out the burn pit.