Robo-Repairs
Technology Feature Article
NASA wants to transition their successful robotics repair business to the private sector in order to capitalize on the commercial opportunities of maintaining the hundreds of satellites orbiting the earth.
Back in the day when it looked like Hubble was a lost cause due to its state of inoperability the Canadian built Dextre robot was used to bring the aging telescope back to life. This feat was a miracle in and of itself as the mission to repair Hubble lingered in the shadow of the 2003 Columbia Space Shuttle tragedy as no one was very eager to send astronauts and equipment into harms way. In the end, however the mission was given the green light and the result was a successful repair of the Hubble Telescope.
This victory has since snowballed the momentum of NASA’s Robo-Repair activities as Dextre has been re-fitted for use on the International Space Station in order to perform autonomous orbital refueling. This proven versatility of the machine has sparked a goal to create a commercial market within space to service the some three hundred plus satellites (owned by both the government and private sector companies) orbiting the earth.
NASA is trying to distance themselves from their purely government program endeavors and again create an industry for themselves within the commercial market. This market is by no means foreign to them, as they used to monopolize a 100% of the commercial satellite launches. Today they rank fourth participating in only about 10% of the commercial satellites launched.
The real driving issue behind this goal to gain a share of the commercial market isn’t necessarily financial (although it is a fact that nothing goes into space without money first going into the bank). The underlying push comes from a need for NASA to simply re-establish themselves within the space industry so they can maintain an ongoing presence. Dave Huntsman, who works out of the NASA headquarters in Washington D.C. said that over money the real issue is the governments failure to “leverage” NASA in a way that will allow them to stay competitive and enable them to sustain their longevity within the industry.
The team behind Dextre is trying to get their refueling demonstration equipment on upcoming space shuttle missions, however space is limited. Ground demonstration models are in the works so satellite owners can see a mock-up of the fueling process and hopefully sign on for future service. The future of NASA is still unknown but possibly with the help of their robotic filling station attendants there may be hope for a return to their place of prominence within the space industry.
Special thanks to the Discovery Channel for their informative posting from Irene Klotz on February 25, 2010 called "NASA grooming satellite Repair-Bots". To view the original article please click on the link: Discovery
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