DARPA Working On Robotic Satellite Repair

jfruh writes: One of the aspects of the space age that sci-fi writers of the '50s couldn't predict was how much of our space activities are conducted by unmanned satellites rather than human beings. Now, DARPA wants to take that one step further, by building a robot satellite to fix other satellites. The initiative is being headed by former Space Shuttle commander Pamela Meloy. “Right now, we don’t build satellites to be serviced, but once we have that capability, then you can start seeing things like modular, serviceable satellites that become routine,” she says.

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Hubble

[bill_mcgonigle]

Several of the Hubble repair missions at least got some preliminary work done on figuring this all out (to prototype stage IIRC). Getting the cost down was the issue.