Through its Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM), NASA hopes to soon place robotic gas stations in space to refuel satellites that are enduring extended missions. The mission aims to service satellites that are orbiting Earth.
With thousands of satellites in orbit, these projects are forced to cease when the aging machines no longer have fuel or need to be serviced. NASA hopes to extend the life of these satellites through establishing robotic gas stations that will have the capability to provide mechanical service and transfer oxidizers to those that need refueling. The current project, the Remote Robotic Oxidizer Transfer Test, is located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The RRM currently uses Dextre - the International Space Station's two-armed robotic handyman - to service and refuel satellites in space. This mission is expected to pave the way for these robotic gas stations that will aim to service over 100 government-owned spacecraft and over 360 'commercial communication satellites' in Earth's geosynchronous orbit level. NASA believes the gas stations will "add precious years of functional life to satellites and expand options for operators who face unexpected emergencies, tougher economic demands, and aging fleets," according to a news release.
The Kennedy Space Center and NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center are working together on this project to expedite its initiation. The engineers have been collaborating since 2011 and are responsible for developing a propulsion transfer assembly, which involves the design, development, and testing of satellite hardware. NASA's RRM initiative is carried out aboard the ISS and tests the tools, technologies, and techniques provided by the NASA departments. They service and refuel satellites that are in need of repair. The mission concluded this past March and its results are still pending.
The establishment of robotic gas stations would save the government as well as a number of private space companies millions of dollars each year because they wouldn't have to build more satellites to replace old ones (unless they're constructing a new model). Additionally, as we've seen with NASA's Mars satellites and rovers, the longer a mission can be extended, the more discoveries and findings it will yield. Satellites provide us with connectivity and information we wouldn't otherwise be able to obtain, so they're functionality is essential.
NASA hopes the RRM mission can provide the results they need in order to begin production of the robotic gas stations. You can read more about the mission in this Fox News article.
