#UK's first In-Orbit Servicing and Manufacturing conference on 8-9 May 2024 is sold out https://www.compleathub.co.uk/satellite-applications-catapult/

#NASA is shutting down the On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 (#OSAM-1) project https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/nasa-discontinue-2-billion-satellite-servicing-project-higher-costs-schedule-2024-03-01

#GITAI's 1.5-meter-long autonomous dual #robotic arm arrived at the #ISS Feb. 1, 2024. The arm system will be mounted external to the ISS and perform on-#orbit services, including maintenance , inspection, and life-extension operations for #satellites https://gitai.tech/2024/02/01/gitai-autonomous-robotic-arm-arrives-at-space-station-to-conduct-isam-external-tech-demo/

#NASA April 2020 #Micrometeoroids and #SpaceDebris will strike an #orbiting Station throughout its lifetime, as is evident on the #ISS, where several #solar arrays show #damage caused by micrometeoroids. The #hope is that the #meteoroids will not hit any #critical areas and cause #emergency #evacuation of the structure. Damage from meteoroids may include damage to #habitation modules.
#Welding is one of the best ways to create hermetic seals. The ability to #weld these structures without waiting for new equipment may limit the #risks to #astronauts in the event of damage.This ability for rapid #repair may also become more significant as orbiting Stations such as #Gateway move further from #Earth and the associated #cost of shipping parts increases. It is important to #develop these technologies now.

#NASA has recently funded work on #development of #spacewelding capabilities https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20200002259/downloads/20200002259.pdf

#NASA's #OSAM-1 (On-#orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing) #satellite servicing and refueling scheduled after 2025 https://nexis.gsfc.nasa.gov/OSAM-1.html

#SmithsonianMagazine March 2, 2022 in 2020, the aerospace company #NorthropGrumman successfully launched two “mission extension vehicles,” equipped with their own engines and fuel, that attached themselves to two commercial satellites and boosted them into new #orbits. #Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites by #DARPA is scheduled for 2024 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/robots-may-soon-fix-fuel-satellites-in-space-180979659

#AeroSpace #robot companies in #OpenStreetMap : https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/tags/aerospace%3Aproduct=robot

#BBC #Columbia #SpaceShuttle Investigation https://youtu.be/2eTRaJGDe-8

'You know, there is nothing we can do about #damage to the TPS. If it has been damaged it’s probably better not to know. I think the crew would rather not know. Don’t you think it would be better for them to have a happy successful flight and die unexpectedly during entry than to stay on #orbit, knowing that there was nothing to be done, until the air ran out ?'”
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150130-what-caused-the-columbia-disaster

It is not the first leak on the #Soyuz. In 2018 the module sprang an #air #leak. #Astronauts used #tape to seal the leak after it caused a small loss of #pressure that was not #life #threatening https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/dec/23/latest-soyuz-capsule-leak-prompts-russians-to-plan-possible-rescue-of-space-station-crew

Picture : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ISS-64_Hopkins_using_HUNCH_Tape_Dispenser.jpg

#SpaceMaintenance #kiss principle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle not #RocketScience #ducttape

At the moment there are about 4,852 working #satellites in #orbit, playing crucial roles in #communications, remote sensing and other tasks. Two new missions will take #servicing a step further. Semiautonomous #robots equipped with mechanical arms to add #fuel to orbiting satellites, and even to make simple #repairs. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/robots-may-soon-fix-fuel-satellites-in-space-180979659