DARPA Developing 'Droid' Satellites

eliot1785 writes "DARPA is now developing a new breed of satellites that can be precision-maneuvered in unison and easily perform advanced operations with built-in sensors, computers and thrusters. From the article: 'David Miller, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Space Systems Laboratory, says such satellites might be used for such tasks as building giant space telescopes and closely monitoring Earth. The shuttle Discovery last week delivered the second of three satellite test "droids" that are undergoing experiments at the International Space Station.'"

Comments

But are they "Imperial" droid satellites?

[plover]

Colin POWELL
I think we've got nothing, sir. The report is only a fragment from a probe droid in the Gulf states, but it's the best lead we've had.

Donald RUMSFELD
[ irritated ]
We have thousands of probe droids searching Iraq. I want justification, not proof!

POWELL
The visuals indicate oil, but no terrorists.

RUMSFELD
We could make it mean anything. As long as we ignored every other lead...

POWELL
But, sir, Iraq is supposed to be devoid of terrorists.

Lord BUSH
You found something?

RUMSFELD
Yes, my lord.
[ He points to a blurry image of an oil well on a monitor ]

BUSH
That's it. The terrarists are there.

POWELL
My lord, there are so many uncharted settlements. It could be smugglers, it could be...

BUSH
That is the system. And I'm sure bin Laden is with them. Set your course for Baghdad. General POWELL, prepare your men.

Re:But are they "Imperial" droid satellites?

[RsG]

So, does that make Dick Cheney the emperor?

Re:But are they "Imperial" droid satellites?

[Anonymous Coward]

Jesus. Have a girlfriend do you? No? Didn't think so.

Re:But are they "Imperial" droid satellites?

[dkleinsc]

This is a great explanation of why the Bush administration is against all forms of cloning.

Re:But are they "Imperial" droid satellites?

[Anonymous Coward]

George W. Bush: What is it?

Condeleeza Rice: I have an urgent message from Dick Cheney. He can't find WMDs in Iraq.

George W. Bush: Tell him to comb the desert. Do you hear me? Comb the desert.

IRAQI DESERT

Donald Rumsfeld: Sir.

Dick Cheney: What?

Donald Rumsfeld: Are we being too literal.

Dick Cheney: No, you fool. We're following orders. We were told to comb the desert, so we're combing it. Found anything yet?

Soldier with Comb: Nothing yet, sir.

Dick Cheney: How about you?

Soldier with 2nd Comb: Not a thing, sir.

Dick Cheney: What about you guys?

Soldier with Mini Comb: We ain't found shit.

Re:But are they "Imperial" droid satellites?

[MyLongNickName]

Jesus. Have a girlfriend do you? No? Didn't think so.

Tell that to Dan Brown.

Re:But are they "Imperial" droid satellites?

[nephridium]

EPISODE II - A New Term

Powell: Lord Bush, we've spotted some Iranian missiles and we are preparing to *ugh*..

Bush: You have failed me for the last time, general. - Condie!

Condie: Yes, my lord?

Bush: Make ready to attend a press conference, and deploy this speech, so that nothing gets out off our hands. You are in command now, Condie Rice.

Condie: Thank you, Lord Bush.

Re:But are they "Imperial" droid satellites?

[nephridium]

Basically, yes. Imho the pope resembles the emperor more closely, though. But hey, it's hollywood.. Angelina Jolie looks nothing like a hacker either.

Re:But are they "Imperial" droid satellites?

[CRCulver]

Tell that to Dan Brown.

Are you referring to Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code ? Sure, he's got a wife, but only because he ended up marrying someone who's even more of a kook than he is. I'm not sure that's something to be proud of, really.

Re:But are they "Imperial" droid satellites?

[Anonymous Coward]

Pssst. He was refering to the "Jesus" part. "Jesus? Do you Have a wife?"

Sounds Like An Nice Advance

[Anonymous Coward]

With this technology, rogue nations and other terrorist organizations can't time and wait for our spy satellites to pass by and not have their nefarious schemes being watched.

Hopefully this will also speed up the time the intelligence agencies can spy on a place when a crisis or situation occurs.

And beyond the obvious humor.....

[postbigbang]

These nine pound balls of your spacial tax dollars could become:

1) garbage collectors for all the space junk out there in orbit around us
2) a new and interesting way of getting rid of those pesky competing satellites
3) spiffy stratosphere-bouncing little comm links
4) ways to make sure that Indian satellites don't achieve orbit
5) new and interesting ways of avoiding Azimov's Laws of Robots-- including the Zeroeth Law

It was inevitable.

Re:And beyond the obvious humor.....

[c_forq]

You made a few mistakes, this is DARPA we are talking about, so it should be:

1) Space recycler, makes space junk into man-made aimable meteors.
2) The REAL off switch for competing positional systems and other countries targeting satellites.
3) No change needed, you were dead on.
4) Control who gets to space.
5) Guarantee that SkyNet is undefeatable, and that resistance will be futile.

Re:And beyond the obvious humor.....

[andrewman327]

In all seriousness, #1 would be an incredible idea.

Nothing to see here, move along.

[Anonymous Coward]

Obviously, these aren't the droids you're looking for.

Meanwhile, the bearded wiseman says...

[patio11]

OBI-N LADEN: These are not the droids you're looking for. *handwave*
PREDATOR DRONE: No, but this drone is looking for you. *boom*

OBI-N LADEN: That sucked. Oh well, being a blue glowie in paradise isn't so bad. Yo Yallah, how about the 72 virgins?
YALLAH: Get the message, you did not. Raisins, I promised.
OBI-N LADEN: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
DARTH VADER: Thats my line, idiot.

Re:Meanwhile, the bearded wiseman says...

[sharkey]

Wow. Just wow. And maybe a "Holy Fucking Shit" tacked on the end.

I had a joke. It was a REALLY great joke. It popped right up in my head, bust its way right through the vodka fumes when I read the /. summary.

But you sir, you take the cake.

the obvious use

[User 956]

From the article: 'David Miller, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Space Systems Laboratory, says such satellites might be used for such tasks as building giant space telescopes and closely monitoring Earth.

Or the obvious use for DARPA, destroying other satellites. (Conveniently left off the list.)

Re:the obvious use

[Anonymous Coward]

You forgot the even more obvious one. Harder to destroy since having a cloud of thousands of them could be considerably harder to take out than a few big satellites.

Re:the obvious use

[kilonad]

Anytime DARPA or any other defense agency mentions "telescopes" they're usually referring to the kind that point down, not up. I see this as a potential test bed for a possible future interferometry-based spy satellite (be it SIGINT or IMINT).

Re:the obvious use

[hcob$]

Umm... they already have that.. Ground based lasers with adaptive optics. Other Satellites with "Birlliant Pebbles" launched at high velocity to look like a minor asteroid impact... Shall I continue?

Re:the obvious use

[eplossl]

While I agree with the previous poster, I would also note that such a satellite would, almost certainly, also be very useful to have from an astronomical standpoint. Think VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) or ULBI (ultra-long baseline interferometry). With enough of these satellites all working together and spread over an appropriate distance, we could potentially get a lot of information about neighboring solar systems. Add to that the possibility of using these sorts of devices for remote surveying of planets in neighboring solar systems (for identification of mineral/atmosphere conditions) and this technology could become extremely useful.

Granted, we are a few years off from interstellar travel, but it's certainly a thought.

Re:the obvious use

[kilonad]

While quite useful, remember that anything you see in the astronomy community is old-hat by defense standards. So if NASA is going to build an interferometer-based "terrestrial planet finder," then your guess is as good as mine (since I don't have clearance).

Re:the obvious use

[Kizor]

Perhaps some kind of a communal observation system? Or a Less benign version?

Re:the obvious use

[HMC CS Major]

Now just couple this with droid guns and we're in for quite the show.

Re:the obvious use

[Anonymous Coward]

I think a few of the respondants to this post have missed the point about interferometry here. Whilst no expert at all, I have recently done some reading around this very issue and I came to the conclusion that optical interferometry could indeed be used to provide exceptionally detailed imagery of earth surface targets.

One significant limiting factor would be atmospheric interference. I may be well off target here, but with careful referencing to an accurate, definately known shape, any lensing or distorting effect could probably be compensated for. For known surveilance target, this could be accomplished by a standard construction survey and lower level photography. Once thats done, there's no more need to risk exposure by overflying.

No overflights = complacency on the part of the surveilance target.

By exceptionallly detailed, I am thinking along the lines of writing on pages.

Put on your tinfoil hat.

Better yet, your tinfoil book-jacket.

All said and done though, given what is 'possible' with a few thousand dollars these days, I think its just as well that (if it exists) this kind of technology is in use.

If you keep your ears open, its amazing the kind of things people talk about when they think you aren't listening and I've heard all sorts since I moved to London. For those who think that the threat of 'Terrorism' is either manufactured, or overstated, seriously, think what the IRA achieved despite the British Government's best efforts and then think again about the 'threat'

Don't bother flaming, I'm apolitical and disinterested, hence my lack of registration.

Re:the obvious use

[Doctor Memory]

Probably not. Smaller size = less room for shielding = greater susceptibility to EMP. Pop a nuke high enough to make sure the EMP doesn't affect your terrestrial assets[0], and you're good to go. You'd need less precision than taking out a single target, and you could probably effectively clear a hemisphere with a half-dozen or so strikes.

[0] Presumably EMP-hardened military assets, anyway. Kiss those VHS archives of Blossom goodbye!

I just read TFA, and...

[Digitus1337]

...they weren't the droids I was looking for.

I am sad

[TaggartAleslayer]

I really only clicked this thread because I saw enormous potential for a Star Wars droid mockery. After reading the first few posts I knew I'd be modded redundant. Now I'll have to settle for off-topic.

Not the droids I was looking for, I'm afraid.

"from the take-me-to-your-gallon dept." ???

[kclittle]

Take me to your four quarts of liquid? wha?

Cast a spell

[Van Cutter Romney]

What are 'druid' satellites? Do they go around in the sky casting spells?

Oh wait, that was droid. Never mind.

Re:Cast a spell

[simdan]

Hmm, imagine that, a druish satellite.

Take me to your gallon???

[mh101]

Would somebody care to explain what that's supposed to mean?

Re:Take me to your gallon???

[Nefarious Wheel]

Obviously, Imperial units are required here. They are disorganised, with few you could point to and say "there's a true Litre".

Re:Take me to your gallon???

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank you. I missed the joke completely until I read your post. Then I got both jokes at the same time.

I'm all for this, BUT...

[j0se_p0inter0]

If they don't make the "DREGALARABADRAB-DEAGALARBAB" sound like they did in Star Wars, I'll bee disappointed no matter what the scientific outcome.

Re:I'm all for this, BUT...

[nacturation]

I always wondered how one would onomatopoeiaicize the sounds they make, and now I know!

Re:I'm all for this, BUT...

[bdeclerc]

Now all we need to now is how you pronounce "onomatopoeiaicize"...

Re:I'm all for this, BUT...

[deficite]

on-oh-mot-o-pee-uh-uh-size

Woo hoo!

[Dannon]

Just read the article. Now all we need is light sabers to really have fun with these things!

Tree-hugging space droids...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Take good care of the forest, Huey..."

Silent Running

[Nefarious Wheel]

But will they maintain the Arks we send out, after funding for their maintenance is cut off?

First one was tested in May

[Anonymous Coward]

The first of these SPHERES gadgets was successfully tested earlier this year on May 18th. It was remotely controlled by Flight Engineer Jeff Williams on the ISS; unlike the real Star Wars seeker remote, it is not autonomous. Maybe that feature will be added later, along with the blaster beams for testing Padawan Flight Engineers.

It's frightening and a bit maddening...

[solitas]

"I [David Miller, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Space Systems Laboratory] rented the first 'Star Wars' movie and showed (a) class the scene where Luke is practicing the use of the Force with a floating droid," Miller told the Christian Science Monitor. "I said: 'I want three of those. How do we start doing this?'"

...that an educational administrator can watch a 'Saturday morning serial'-kind of movie and can "start doing this" by finding enough budgetary feebs at NASA & DARPA that'll give him a wet-dream-amount of OUR tax $$$ for "satellites [that] might be used for such tasks as building giant space telescopes and closely monitoring Earth".

Yeah - "might": just about as plausible as defending the Earth from the FSM, or killing the Ori, or letting us know when the Vogons arrive. WTF - don't we already have sufficient technology for satellites that can "closely" monitor the Earth?

More likely they'll just end-up being more orbital junk endangering something-or-other or making pretty, bright flashes when they de-orbit. Yeah, Miller - keep finding gov't funding for practically anything for MIT or else the management might look for someone who can.

Re:It's frightening and a bit maddening...

[zoogies]

He's sharing an amusing anecdote about an unusual source of inspiration. I'd lend more credit to the director of MIT's Space Systems Laboratory in running research projects to develop our space technology than the word of the most vocal /.er. I'd think his position and qualifications would give him a better foundation to determine the plausibility of this project more than a reader who picks around the semantics of the word 'might.' And as far as spending our tax money goes, you can do a whole lot worse than technological research.

Re:It's frightening and a bit maddening...

[Nefarious Wheel]

This would not be the first time that science has followed science fiction. Imagination is always first car in the clue train.

Re:It's frightening and a bit maddening...

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you trust the journalist who wrote the article to fully and correctly quote everything he said during the interview?

Re:It's frightening and a bit maddening...

[Anonymous Coward]

I completely agree! Those 10-30–year-old satellites are doing their jobs just fine. Present-day technology surely can't offer us anything new.

Re:It's frightening and a bit maddening...

[Malakusen]

Pretty crazy, considering that Star Trek inspired the Tablet PC (remember the PADD?), the cell phone (thanks Captain Kirk!), the hypospray, and a number of other elements of modern technology. Well, I guess, maybe not all that crazy, eh? http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/ch ronicle/archive/2004/03/15/BUGLV5J6GT1.DTL&type=bu siness

Yes, and NASA got it there, so....

[postbigbang]

1) be happy that these didn't go into the drink (and stop worrying about that foam stuff)
2) it only cost $14B per space ball
3) they're rumored to bounce!
4) they're using WiFi, but on Channel 14 (at least it's MIMO!)
5) they can be used to fix the Hubble!!

I for one welcome our new ...wait a minute

[gadlaw]

I can't believe that joke hasn't been posted yet.

Re:Sounds Like An Nice Advance... for Hitler

[mutantSushi]

With this technology, rogue nations and other terrorist organizations can't time and wait for our spy satellites to pass by and not have their nefarious schemes being watched. Hopefully this will also speed up the time the intelligence agencies can spy on a place when a crisis or situation occurs.

How does one start a 'vote on this topic' counter thru the forums?
... I mean, Who really thinks these are "our" military spy satellites?

But gotta love testing these on the ISS, all that peaceful uses of space NASA is all about...

Am I the only one..

[DarrylKegger]

to smell a new olympic sport? In sports news: The Cornish spokesperson for the British Olympic Synchronised Sattelite team was at pains to avoid the media today; his only statement "We doon't reeeally know wheear thay arr"

Space Quest I

[Anonymous Coward]

I still remember typing 'buy droid' in Space Quest I. That's what this story reminded me of.

SPHERES

[Anonymous Coward]

SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites) is a very interesting project that has a lot of potential. There are some videos here: http://ssl.mit.edu/spheres/videos.html One of the biggest obstacles for these satellites is that most use thrusters, which aren't very attractive for long missions as they're non-replenishable. But MIT and DARPA are working on that as well: http://ssl.mit.edu/emff/index.html.

Droid Swarm Parts List

[Jimekai]

On a hunch I was looking for a parts list for LED / LCD (Lightboxes / Videowalls) and to develop illuminated dancers. Just add a rocket.

Recorder keeps track of mains supplies: News from Fluke (UK)

Budget price for embedded CPU board: News from Datasound Laboratories

Speedy slewing from video op amps: News from Intersil

Video matrix mixes and matches four displays: News from Hall Research Technologies

Switch puts two sources through one monitor: News from Hall Research Technologies

Embedded database aids network device deployment: News from Quadros Systems

CAN transceiver shows excellent EMI performance: News from AMI Semiconductor

Splitter sends PC video over Cat5 cable: News from Hall Research Technologies

Convertor samples transducer outputs: News from Hero Electronics

Choice of backlight for LCD module: News from Glyn

Re:Droid Swarm Parts List

[Jimekai]

With that parts list, I was thinking about gearing up my first 2x25 user mouse using bluetooth video phones, for use in a pub. Initially, double doors will connect the users credit card into a GPS tracked unit for use while inside. The credit card is surrendered on leaving the LCD unit. While inside the LCD unit, its screen becomes a magnification of a portion of a large screen, that can be seen from the bar. Once the user takes a control, the user's mouse is activated up on the main screen. The main screen will show transparent wires like an old telephone exchange, or transparent octopus feelers, or eyeballs on slinkies. It just has to look back on itself, without getting in the way, or snap shut. This effect will be done in a downstream video processor that's in communication with the user. The base that these connections to the user's mouse come from are a set of twenty five drums, represented on a 5x5 matrix of lighted squares on the main screen. Each drum can be hit by its user and queued into an auto-tempo drum kit. The ADSR effect that is added to the whack is shown as the background color of the drum control. On the users table sits an LED light box that not only echoes this color, it echoes the drum sound as well. Thus the user can order music and drinks, and bongo at the same time. Many light-boxes together can form a dance floor. These needs are to be supplied by Cylon droids spinning their cylinders, around their slinky extensions, searching for the light-boxes. Software is supplied by "Ingrid on Winamp". My first test effortlessly increased the ManyChat limit from 8 to 25 on the "AI Ingrid DJ". Needs a bit more thought on host migration. Now to tie the ports to the macros under their drums, and from there via four transparent wires to each corner of the remote window. For this I'd need to subclass a transparent picturebox as big as the screen onto which I could draw the ellipses of each connected unit. Screen-scrapers using pattern recognition can snap to known positions and look for any bugs in the v=d/t slinky formula. I hope that got your attention.

Droids?

[ScaryFroMan]

How are these droids? 'Droid is short for Android, as in a human-shaped robot. And while this definition may not hold fast in a galaxy far, far away, it most definately does for us. Why not just say "Robot?"

Re:Droids?

[Nefarious Wheel]

Because Robot is a Russian invention, you insensitive clod!

(RUR -- Rossum's Universal Robots)

Re:Droids?

[deft]

"How are these droids? 'Droid is short for Android, as in a human-shaped robot. And while this definition may not hold fast in a galaxy far, far away, it most definately does for us. Why not just say "Robot?""

You clearly answered yor own question... they aren't called androids because they fall short of the human shape!

Re:Droids?

[sinewalker]

Agreed. I believe in Star Wars, the floating training device is referred to by Luke as a "remote":

"You know, I could almost see the remote..."

Sad that I can quote Star Wars scripts without having to fish out the DVD... ;-)

Re:Droids?

[CRCulver]

Because Robot is a Russian invention, you insensitive clod!

Karel Capek, the creator of the word "robot", was from what is now the Czech Republic. That is hundreds and hundreds of miles away from Russia, and the word is derived from the Czech language, which split off from the ancestor common with Russian some 1500 years ago. Do you think it'd be accurate if, say, American inventor Thomas Edison were referred to as Guatemalan? We're talking about the same cultural and geographical distance between Capek and Russia.

I would say BUSH SHOT FIRST!...

[SeaFox]

But I hear he managed to avoid involvement in the Clone Wars...

If I am not wrong the raisins joke

[freaker_TuC]

comes from Rob Williams ; comedian ; live in the Broadway theater .. Can that be ?

Re:If I am not wrong the raisins joke

[patio11]

The confusion between "Die for Allah, get virgins" and "Die for Allah, get raisins" is actually a serious theological debate within Islam. See this Guardian story among a couple hundred other places. If Robbin Williams has Yodafied the joke before my apologies to him, but I haven't heard a word from the man since Mrs. Doubtfire and given that that was pre-September 11th I'm guessing I've never heard his take on Islam. Or Star Wars, for that matter.

Re:If I am not wrong the raisins joke

[freaker_TuC]

"For my talent portion!" No, no, no! But recently, there was an article in the New York Times, the Koran scholars tell us that the actual translation is not 71 dark-haired virgins, but 71 Crystal-Clear Raisins... slight difference of interpretation, really! That's so strange, it's like, "thou shalt not kill," is "thou shalt not wear a kilt!" And the Scots are going, fuck off - virgins. But the Koran scholars tell us that the actual translation is "71 Crystal-Clear Raisins"... slight difference of interpretation, really.

Found at this link; a year before Mrs. Doubtfire came out ; this DVD is still making me laugh ; this man sure has talent.
In 2007 there is a Mrs. Doubtfire 2 planned.

Re:If I am not wrong the raisins joke

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're generous and consider a paraphrase with a significant deviation of raisins rather than virginians then yes.

Re:If I am not wrong the raisins joke

[Frightening]

What?

I'm a Muslim student of theology (and a SW Eng..go figure) and the article you just linked to only makes a rubbish postulation in the end by reference to a clueless orientalist. He says if we read the words in Syriac (as opposed to Arabic) then the virgins become raisins. Well done Sherlock. If you read it in swahili Muhammad becomes Bill Gates. And if you want a clear cut argument:

"We have revealed it an Arabic Quran, that you may reflect"

God didn't promise raisins to those who fight in his Cause, and he didn't offer absolute happiness in heaven to those who blow themselves up in cafeterias with families inside having breakfast.
Thanks for the joke anyway.

Re:If I am not wrong the raisins joke

[zimus]

In 2007 there is a Mrs. Doubtfire 2 planned.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

The most important question about a 'droid'

[johansalk]

Is it paranoid? You see...

I once had a droid
that was paranoid
as much as i tried
tried hard to avoid
upsetting my droid
it shook, screeched and buzzed
and stared into the void
i told him "hey, chill!"
my pretty boy and droid
I crooned, shook and danced
and I played him pretty tunes
from andrew weber loyd
oh i got that name wrong
but whatever heck nevermind
oh i'm so very annoyed
where is his warranty card
he got me, too, paranoid
let's take his ass to shop
before he had deployed
newfangled nasty tech
alarms, weapons and toyed
with my skin, flesh and bones
he's no longer employed
in my service and joy
i had not at all enjoyed
no way hey fucking way heck no
this paranoid damn fucking droid

Interesting widgets...

[ferd_farkle]

There is a bit more information here and here about SPHERES including images and video at MIT.

These puppies are not quite "bowling ball" shaped.

Can scientists and engineers PLEASE...

[Alex Belits]

...start developing their own ideas, and not just turn science fiction movies props into toys? Sure, Arthur C Clarke had some pretty good ideas (having a goal to make realistic things in the first place -- what Star Wars never had), but even trying to make something that looks like a shuttle from "2001" movie ended up a rather suboptimal vehicle (that was obsolete in a *real* 2001, leave alone now).

Can anyone please tell us, what would be the projected lifetime of those things in open space with ways of storing energy/fuel that are going to be available within 10-15 years? That means, no thermonuclear shit, thermonuclear was 25 years away for 50 years already, thankyouverymuch.

What about precision of movement while performing any operation that a drunk guy in a space suit over another space suit over pajamas won't do better? How many times the expected mass of that thing is going to increase to be able to use a screwdriver? Hello anyone? Did anyone think about any relevant technical issues at all, or the goal was to make a prop for "Star Wars VII: Palpatine Is Still Alive, Dammit" to be shot entirely on ISS (and released exclusively there, too)?

Re:Can scientists and engineers PLEASE...

[Anonymous Coward]

They wouldn't get funding. This is an unfortunate result of institutionalized science - most backers either want safe non-paradigm changing science (as is the case with government funded science) or a fast to market technology that is just different enough from the competitor to compete (as is the case with corporate funded science.) It has been my observation over the years that novel innovations and discoveries upset power structures and are generally discouraged, classified or held secret for decades.

Metal Gear

[paradigmdream]

Did anyone else think of Metal Gear Solid when reading the word DARPA? First thing that poped into my mind.

Dupe AND Bad Summary

[iamlucky13]

Actually, bad article, too. Wonders never cease.

The satellites the "article" talks about are the result of MIT and DARPA's Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellites (SPHERES...sounds like they were stretching a little bit to get decent sounding acronym). The immediate focus of research is to develop control systems for automated docking, with later potential applications of station-keeping and maybe even satellite repair. For example, you may recall a DoD satellite repair mission that failed last year when the robot failed to latch on to the target satellite and accidentally bumped into it before running out of fuel.

The SPHERES are tested inside the ISS and manuever using cold gas thrusters (standard CO2 bottles, I think). The goal is for them to maintain alignment with a hand held beacon that the astronauts move about inside the station. For this generation, I believe the beacon is auditory based. Obviously that won't work outdoors, but this is a pretty low-cost, basic level development effort.

"I had forgotten how much I HATE space travel." nt

[Schraegstrichpunkt]

No text.

Another Computer Science Concept Expanded

[artgeeq]

Redundant Array of Expensive Satellites (RAES)