Restore-L To Refuel And Service NASA Satellites In Orbit

First Posted: Dec 07, 2016 04:57 AM EST
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NASA continues to maintain satellites and to give better service. Currently, the agency awards a $127 million worth of spacecraft to a satellite company.

NASA revealed that the agency will award a $127 million contract to the California-based satellite company Space Systems/Loral for Restore-L. It is a robotic spacecraft that has the ability to grasp, refuel and relocate a satellite in low-Earth orbit, as well as to test the technologies for the future mission, according to Space Daily.

NASA gave the SSL three years to build the bot. Its goal is to launch in 2020.

A satellite's lifespan is not that long, especially if it does not have the ability to refuel. It just relays on the tank during launch packed by the propellant engineers. The lifespan can even be decreased if the spacecraft encounters any mechanical and electrical problems during orbit.

Private companies and government agencies have been working on several remedies as more satellites reached the end of their operational purpose. They have come up with a remedy by developing robots that can give satellites a tune-up in zero gravity.

Thus, DARPA, for example, recently launched a program intended for servicing satellites at the hard-to-reach but greatly desirable perch of geosynchronous orbit, above Earth at 22,000 miles. Meanwhile, the NASA Satellite Servicing Division has a handful of an orbit and refueling technology demonstrators in the works.

As follows, it includes a robotic arm with the same range of movements similar to the human arms. Also, a navigation system created to help robots rendezvous with moving objects in space, and Restore-L combines these and other capabilities into a multi-purpose space mechanic.

Meanwhile, NASA reported that Space Systems/Loral will provide spacecraft bus, critical hardware and services for the development, deployment and operations of the Restore-L mission. It will also provide related services to accomplish mission integration, test, launch and operations.

The Restore-L Project is managed within NASA's Satellite Servicing Projects Division at the space agency for its Space Technology Mission Directorate at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

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