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ASTRO, NextSat reunite once more as Orbital Express concludes
It seems like it was just yesterday when ASTRO and NextSat took to the skies galaxy in hopes of making their creators proud, but now the time has come for the two to wind down and sip exotic liquids from an umbrella-adorned glass. Thankfully, this story has somewhat of a gleeful ending, though it wasn't looking so rosy just days ago; on June 27th, the two parted ways and managed to drift some seven-kilometers apart before ASTRO used its onboard camera system (and a bit of help from ground control) to navigate back to NextSat, where it then proceeded to give its space-bound buddy a theoretical noogie. Sadly, this final scenario marks the final test in DARPA's Orbital Express demonstration, which means that the two machines now have an ominous decommission plan to look forward to.[Via NewScientist]
ASTRO satellite to autonomously move objects to NextSat
Don't say we didn't warn you, as just days after ASTRO and NextSat successfully completed an autonomous fuel transfer whilst orbiting, the thoughtful duo is already looking forward to the next big challenge. As Scenario 0 operation trials continue, the ASTRO satellite will utilize its "ten-foot-long robotic arm to move objects to NextSat," the first of which will purportedly be a "spare battery transfer" that will be "snatched from ASTRO and plugged into NextSat." Reportedly, this very battery will be the focal point of a number of future handoffs, and a "secondary sensor processing computer" will eventually be offloaded to NextSat as well if the arm cooperates. Of course, these relatively minor exchanges don't mark the end of the work week for these two, as a number of future scenarios look to provide increasingly difficult challenges for "mating" the two machines. Hey, we've already got robotic rights in the works, so we're looking that way for guidance about handling these newfangled (and slightly awkward) mechanical relationships, cool? [Via Slashdot]
ASTRO satellite hooks spacecraft up with fuel whilst orbiting
Launching a few birds into space is quite a feat in its own right, but pumping hydrazine fuel into an orbiting counterpart autonomously is really something to be proud of. Just about a month after launching the two unmanned crafts into space, the ASTRO satellite "successfully pumped vital hydrazine fuel into its NextSat counterpart as part of Scenario 0-1, the first in a series of increasingly challenging tests." The machines are currently taking part in the series of Orbital Express missions, and apparently, things are on the up and up thus far. Future tests are slated to include "autonomous undocking, proximity operations and re-docking," as well as installing a battery on NextSat with its robotic arm. We can't wait to see what happens when one of the two gets testy about refueling after hours, but we sure hope the galactic battle is somehow caught on tape.[Via Digg]
Autonomous repair robots launched into space
Few things set our geek pulses a-purrin' like DARPA sponsored projects, robots, and outer space. So combining the three into last night's launch of the Orbital Express had us hopping and clapping like little girls in pink party dresses. Built for DARPA, the pair of satellites were launched to demonstrate the feasibility of autonomously servicing satellites in space. Yeah, autonomous as in no human interaction, unless there's a problem with the sensors, passive detection systems, and computer software requiring mission control to intervene. Both the robotic-arm equipped ASTRO servicing satellite and smaller NextSat target will be orbiting our blue planet for the next three months testing autonomous rendezvous, refueling, and component replacement. A successful mission would pave the way for a fleet of both commercial and military vehicles for use in repairing or providing an orbital boost to general-use spacecraft while allowing recon satellites to maintain position longer. We're pretty sure that last bit has some generals jumping and clapping as well. Read -- Satellite launch Read -- Orbital Express
