Robotic Refueling Project of NASA Conducted First Test at ISS (video)

The Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) team of NASA announced a success of the January experiments aboard the ISS and released a video showcasing it and their project. A key achievement was their first-of-its-kind demonstration of robotic fluid transfer in space, an objective they hope will help the development of robotic technology to refuel satellites.

"This achievement is a major step forward in servicing satellites," said Frank Cepollina, who is working for the Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center that is in charge of the mission. "RRM gives NASA and the emerging commercial satellite servicing industry the confidence to robotically refuel, repair and maintain satellites in both near and distant orbits -- well beyond the reach of where humans can go today."

The activities of RRM encompassed six days in January using the International Space Station's remotely controlled "robotic hand" Dextre to "cut wires, remove and stow caps and perform tasks necessary to refuel satellites not designed to be refueled." The full name of Dextre is Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM), and the two armed telemanipulator is part of the Mobile Servicing System for the ISS that was contributed by Canada.

RRM is thus a joint effort between the Canadian Space Agency and NASA, who use the capabilities in place on the International Space Station as test bed for the research and development of robotic satellite-servicing capabilities. The technologies which RRM is demonstrating could hpefully extend the lives of many of the hundreds of satellites currently in geosynchronous Earth orbit.

Incidentally, a quite similar project was announced last month by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) who hopes to enhance future capabilities to reuse existing parts from decommissioned satellites and to not just repair but construct new satellites in orbit.

More RRM tasks are scheduled to be performed later this year which include thermal blanket cutting and fastener and electronic termination cap removals. NASA anticipates RRM technologies may help boost the commercial satellite-servicing industry in the future - which could greatly expand options for government and commercial fleet operators.