Admin Posted April 20, 2020 Share Posted April 20, 2020 Space.com calls it "the first commercial satellite servicing mission." But more specifically, it's being called "the first in-orbit rendezvous and docking of two commercial satellites" in a statement from Northrop Grumman Space Systems, which also notes their "subsequent repositioning of the two-spacecraft stack." And it was all done using robotics floating 36,000km (22,369 miles) above the Earth. Space.com describes the historic servicing of Intelsat 901 communications satellite (also known IS-901): The satellite, which launched in 2001, had been running low on fuel needed to maintain its correct orbit. But rather than launch a replacement internet satellite, its owner, Intelsat, hired Northrop Grumman to conduct a first-of-its-kind mission. That project sent another satellite, called Mission Extension Vehicle 1 (MEV-1) to connect to IS-901 in February and take responsibility for keeping the internet satellite in the proper location to do its job... MEV-1 will now spend five years attached to IS-901 to extend that satellite's tenure. After the contract ends, MEV-1 will steer the old satellite to a safe orbit, detach, and join up with a different satellite to provide the same services. MEV-1 should be able to partner with satellites for a total of 15 years, according to a previous Northrop Grumman statement. Northrop Grumman is planning to launch a second mission-extension vehicle later this year, which will also aid an Intelsat satellite. Long-time Slashdot reader mi tipped us off to the story, which included a number of firsts. "Prior to this, no two commercial spacecraft had ever docked in orbit before," Ars Technica writes. CNBC notes it also resulted in "one-of-a-kind images", since a geosynchronous satellite had never even been photographed before by another spacecraft. Read more of this story at Slashdot. View the full article Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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