For the first time ever, a robotic spacecraft caught an old satellite and extended its life

For the first time ever, a robotic spacecraft caught an old satellite and extended its life

@THESHEETZTWEETZ PUBLISHED FRI, APR 17 20209:18 AM EDT

KEY POINTS
  • A small spacecraft built by Northrop Grumman succeeded in docking with Intelsat’s IS-901 satellite and returning it to service for another five years.
  • The feat is a space industry first, as extending the life of spacecraft already in orbit has only been done with human help before.
  • “Intelsat is proud to have pioneered this innovative first with Northrop Grumman,” the company’s chief services officer Mike DeMarco said in a statement.
Intelsat’s IS-901 satellite is nearly 20 years old, and well beyond its expected lifespan, but a small spacecraft built by Northrop Grumman succeeded in docking with the satellite and giving it another five years of service, the companies announced on Friday.

The feat is a space industry first, as extending the life of spacecraft already in orbit has only been done with human help before – such as the Hubble telescope servicing missions conducted by NASA astronauts.

Northrop Grumman’s spacecraft MEV-1 successfully docked with IS-901 on Feb. 25. Intelsat’s satellite was launched in June 2001 and was only intended to serve for 13 years, providing communications services in the Atlantic Ocean region. The satellite is in a fixed position above the Earth in what is known as geosynchronous orbit – tens of thousands of miles up to provide as wide a coverage area as effectively possible.

MEV-1 traveled out to the satellite, matched its orbit and then successfully docked with IS-901. In the process, MEV-1 took one-of-a-kind images of IS-901, as a geosynchronous satellite had never been seen from the view of another spacecraft before.

“Intelsat is proud to have pioneered this innovative first with Northrop Grumman,” the company’s chief services officer Mike DeMarco said in a statement. “We see increased demand for our connectivity services around the world, and preserving our customers’ experience using innovative technology such as MEV-1 is helping us meet that need.”

IS-901 has now returned to service, with MEV-1 essentially fueling and steering the satellite. MEV-1 will provide five years of life extension services to the satellite before returning IS-901 to an orbit for decommissioning. Then MEV-1 will be available to provide extension services for other satellites in orbit.

Intelsat has a contract with Northrop Grumman for a second mission extension spacecraft, MEV-2, which the company plans to use to service Intelsat’s 1002 satellite later this year.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/17/northrop-grumman-mev-1-spacecraft-services-intelsat-901-satellite.html


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BMW traps alleged thief by remotely locking him in car

BMW traps alleged thief by remotely locking him in car Stealer's Wheel? Seattle police department quotes "Watchmen" movie in a recap of the recent arrest. Tech Culture by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper December 4, 2016 5:00 PM PST It's maybe the most satisfying arrest we can imagine. Seattle police caught an alleged car thief by enlisting the help of car maker BMW to both track and then remotely lock the luckless criminal in the very car he was trying to steal. Jonah Spangenthal-Lee, deputy director of communications for the Seattle Police Department, posted a witty summary of the event on the SPD's blog on Wednesday. Turns out if you're inside a stolen car, it's perhaps not the best time to take a nap. "A car thief awoke from a sound slumber Sunday morning (Nov. 27) to find he had been remotely locked inside a stolen BMW, just as Seattle police officers were bearing down on him," Spangenthal-Lee wrote. The suspect found a ke...
Read more

Report: World’s 1st remote brain surgery via 5G network performed in China

World’s 1st remote brain surgery via 5G network performed in China Published time: 17 Mar, 2019 13:12 ·           A Chinese surgeon has performed the world’s first remote brain surgery using 5G technology, with the patient 3,000km away from the operating doctor. Dr. Ling Zhipei remotely implanted a neurostimulator into his patient’s brain on Saturday, Chinese state-run media  reports . The surgeon manipulated the instruments in the Beijing-based PLAGH hospital from a clinic subsidiary on the southern Hainan island, located 3,000km away. The surgery is said to have lasted three hours and ended successfully. The patient, suffering from Parkinson’s disease, is said to be feeling well after the pioneering operation. The doctor used a computer connected to the next-generation 5G network developed by Chinese tech giant Huawei. The new device enabled a near real-time connection, according to Dr. Ling.  “You barely feel that th...
Read more

New ATM's: withdraw money with veins in your finger

New cash machines: withdraw money with veins in your finger Cash machine technology that reads the pattern of finger veins is already available in Japan and Poland   By Telegraph Reporters 6:59PM BST 15 May 2014 Cash machines could soon be installed with devices that identify customers by reading the veins in their fingers. The technology is already being rolled out in Poland, where 1,730 cash machines will this year be installed with readers, negating the need for a debit card and Pin. Developed by Hitachi, the Japanese electronics firm, the machines read the patterns of the veins just below the surface of the skin on your finger using infra-red sensors. The light is partially absorbed by haemoglobin in the veins to capture a unique finger vein pattern profile, which is matched to a profile. The technology is used by Japanese banks and also in Turkey, offering “groundbreaking levels of accuracy and speed of authentication”, Hitachi said, which in t...
Read more