The Intelsat 19 telecommunications satellite’s recent problems with solar array deployment highlight the need for the space industry to develop a working satellite servicing capability, but the concept faces a multitude of hurdles, Jeff Foust writes in The Space Review.
“Several efforts, both government and commercial, are seeking to make satellite servicing viable,” he writes. “The challenges these efforts are finding are, in part, technological, as one might expect. The bigger challenges, though, may lie in the financial, legal, and other non-technical issues of fixing satellites.”
Foust examines the ViviSat Mission Extension Vehicle, the MDA Corp. Space Infrastructure Servicing project, NASA’s Robotic Refueling Mission and other efforts to service spacecraft after launch.
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