What does it take to robotically refuel a satellite in space? The team of NASA’s Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) have the answers — along with a revolutionary 2013 space test on the International Space Station to prove it’s possible.
It’s no easy feat to remotely command a robot to access and transfer fluid into a a triple-sealed satellite fuel tank, but these NASA engineers love an “impossible” challenge. Veterans of the astronaut-driven Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions, team members Benjamin Reed, Jill McGuire, Ed Rezac and Joe Easley talk about creation of RRM, putting “smarts” into space tools, and the mechanics of executing this first-of-its–kind fluid transfer in microgravity.
RRM is demonstrating cutting edge technologies that could extend the lives of many of the hundreds of satellites currently in geosynchronous Earth orbit. These assets deliver such essential services as weather reports, cell phone communications, television broadcasts, government communications and air traffic management.
Hosted by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, this Google+ hangout took place on January 17, 2013.
Learn more about NASA’s Robotic Refueling Mission and these Google+ Hangout participants at:
http://ssco.gsfc.nasa.gov/robotic_refueling_mission.html
https://www.facebook.com/NASA.Satellite.Servicing
https://twitter.com/NASA_SatServ
