Jul 22 2007
From The Space Library
DARPA decommissioned its experimental Orbital Express satellites, officially ending the demonstration of on-orbit satellite servicing and robotics. The two craft comprising Orbital Express—ASTRO and NextSat—had launched together in March 2007, to demonstrate ASTRO’s ability to approach NextSat with limited interaction from the ground, to grapple the craft with a robotic arm, and to transfer fuel and hardware to NextSat. The decommissioning of the satellites followed the completion of one last maneuver. ASTRO had found NextSat and homed in on the craft from long range, assisted by the U.S. Space Surveillance Network. Beginning on 16 July, ASTRO had traveled approximately 250 miles (402 kilometers) away from NextSat, so that its sensor suite lost track of NextSat. ASTRO then required input from the ground-based network to help it locate the target satellite. DARPA had originally scheduled the decommissioning to occur on 5 July but had extended the mission two weeks to allow the research team to attempt the long-range rendezvous maneuver. Orbital Express had met all of DARPA’s criteria for mission success, including demonstrating its capability to track and to rendezvous with long-range targets.
Brian Berger, “Pentagon Pulls Plug on Satellite Refueling Prototypes,” Space.com, 25 July 2007, http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/070725_DARPA_orbitalexpress_end.html (accessed 9 June 2010); Stephen Clark, “Satellite In-Space Servicing Demo Mission a Success,” Spaceflight Now, 24 July 2007.
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