Space Infrastructure Servicing

en.wikipedia.org

24 pointsbased24 comments

Wow, something I am working on made it to HN FP?! Happy to answer questions.

Cool stuff! Thanks for offering to answer questions. While reading it I was wondering why the service wasn’t to offer a “tugship” capability by altering the satellite’s orbit. Would that be viable or am I missing something?

In other words, is the benefit of docking, cutting away thermal layers, and injecting new propellant into another satellite is that it enables the customer to control its own destiny for 5+ more years, versus waiting on tugships?

IIRC, fuel on satellites is used gradually over time to maintain a controlled orbit and orientation, not to actually provide altitude to keep the satellite up, or for dramatic changes in orbital parameters.

That's generally true for higher orbits. In lower orbits there's still a tiny bit of atmospheric drag so satellites have to periodically boost themselves. And in the special case of spy satellites they occasionally do make dramatic changes in orbital parameters in order to observe a particular high-priority target at a particular time.

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