Mindy Weisberger reports that satellites orbiting Earth and other planets in the solar system travel at thousands of miles per hour, their missions spanning years or even decades. They were built to last on their own, but how might space agencies service them if parts break down, or if they run low on fuel? That is where space robots come in, according to panelists speaking at Future Con, a convention held in Washington, D.C., where talks and exhibits explored the intersection of cutting-edge science with science fiction and popular culture.
At a June 18 panel Robots in Space, NASA scientists explained how engineers are designing robots to perform a seemingly impossible precision task in space, refueling satellites that are traveling at thousands of miles per hour. Space robots are not new to science fiction, and plenty of machines today perform complex scientific tasks on Earth and in space, from surgically correcting eye defects to helping astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) during spacewalks. Several robots even dwell on the surface of other worlds, such as the Mars rovers ... the now-defunct Spirit and the still-active Opportunity and Curiosity. Experts from the NASA Satellite Servicing Projects Division (SSPD) appeared at Future Con accompanied by a scale model of a space robot called Raven, part of a mission that will be capable of tracking, locating and refueling autonomous spacecraft, including satellites that were not designed to be serviced in space, according to a description on the NASA mission website. The mission, Restore-L, is expected to launch in 2020, NASA reported.
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