Tag Archives: Satellite Servicing

Obruta pivots to building off-the-shelf RPOD for satellite maintenance

Obruta Our spacecraft Rendezvous, Proximity Operations, and Docking (RPOD) Kit on a satellite

Obruta Space Solutions isn’t seeking to become a household name. They aren’t building launchers, and they aren’t building satellites, and founders Kevin Stadnyk and Kirk Hovell aren’t making grandiose claims about Mars. This page is for subscribers only. Already a subscriber? Log in. Fact-driven space news, columns, business, policy, technology and more. Support independent journalism. SUBSCRIBE TODAY

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Starfish joins queue of companies looking to service satellites

Starfish Space's Otter space tug for satellite servicing and debris removal

Kent, Washington based Starfish Space has announced that they’ve raised a US$7 million funding round to help them build a fleet of space tugs to help with the growing issue of servicing and decommissioning satellites. This page is for subscribers only. Already a subscriber? Log in. Fact-driven space news, columns, business, policy, technology and more. Support independent journalism. SUBSCRIBE TODAY

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MDA signs contracts with Maxar for on-orbit servicing technologies

Illustration of NASA’s OSAM-1 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) on-orbit satellite servicing mission, which will refuel a government-owned satellite

The promise of on-orbit servicing as business for MDA has been in the works for over a decade. In 2011 MDA signed Intelsat as its anchor customer for its Space Infrastructure Servicing vehicle. That deal fell through. Now, almost 10 years after that deal was signed, MDA is making some progress, as evidenced by its latest contracts. This page is for subscribers only. Already a …

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Satellite Servicing and Small Satellites – Coming of Age

The Orbital ATK Rendezvous, Proximity Operations and Docking (RPOD) Lab uses full scale mock-ups of client vehicle and Mission Extension Vehicles to test RPOD sensors, actuators, control algorithms and contact dynamics of our satellite servicing vehicles

Does it seem to you that satellite servicing and small satellites are more frequently in the news? It wasn’t always the case, but many believed it was just a matter of time when these business segments would begin to have an impact. This interview by Eva-Jane Lark from the September 2012 issue of Space Quarterly Magazine is with Jim Armor Major General (retired), one of those believers. A …

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