Lockheed Martin declares success demonstrating tech for in-orbit satellite servicing
Lockheed Martin announces successful demonstration of technology of satellite servicing.
The future space transportation of Lockhed Martin will be capable of connecting with a space satellite for maintenance or upgrades.
A couple of Lockheed Martin smaller satellites that found their way to geostationary Earth orbit a few months ago, did a few manipulations close to each other and showcased other techniques for orbital maintenance, according to the company’s press-release on April 17-th.
The two smaller satellites, each size of no bigger than a toaster, were launched about 300 kilometers over geostationary orbit from a carrier of multiple smaller satellites.
Then, they were disconnected at a distance of 750 kilometers away and in a month started navigating back at a speed of around half a kilometer per day.
One small satellite was operating as a servicing vehicle, while the other was the “resident”. It is expected that, the objects will start coming as close as 200 meters daily.
Another significance of the experiment was that AI was also participating.
Lockheed Martin has a lot of hope for maintenance of transportation for both commercial and government spheres and includes procedures like refueling, software promotion, etc.
Lockheed Martin considers use of this technology for missions of any size.
AI Catalog's chief editor
Share on social networks:
