A New Satellite Is Preparing To Repair An Old Satellite

Northrop Grumman's Mission Extension Vehicle is currently closing in on Intelsat 901 with a daring plan to provide it new propulsion and stabilization capability so that its communications gear can continue to provide service for years to come.
The idea of repairing satellites in space is not a new one, but has largely been limited to Space Shuttle missions crewed by astronauts, making them only viable for things like the Hubble Space Telescope.
But now a new class of robotic repair satellites are preparing to start giving old satellites a new lease of life at a fraction of the cost of a new spacecraft.

[craigmushens]

MEV: “this is going to feel... weird”

[sound of latex glove snapping]

IntelSat: “WTF!”

[ChevronTango]

I was half expecting the refuelling sat to be a giant orange tank with a Clamp-O-Tron on it

[bami]

So they didn't just rotate some landing legs in awkward orientation so they could grab the satellite?

[Awgolas]

Scientist 1: "Well, there's no docking port, so it looks like IntelSat is totally f*cked. F*cked right in the thruster nozzle."

Scientist 2: "...Okay I have an idea. It's gonna sound weird but just hear me out."

[chrisfromsouthaus]

4:00 And that kids, is where cubesats come from

[linuxophile]

"inserting the probe into the thrust chamber" made me giggle.

[lithostheory]

3:45... I hope they discussed consent before probing.

[unvergebeneid]

"mated" seems like the right word given how you described that mating procedure... 😳

[HPD]

3:43 this is the kind of porn that bender from futurama watches

[oscarmendez]

Gives new meaning to the term "fly safe"

[lithostheory]

3:43 The satellite equivalent of the kiss of life :^D

[dewiz]

This is seriously cool. I have, somewhere in my collection of Analog magazines, a story about an astronaut who had a short notice launch to go up and repair a satellite. One of the concerns raised in the story was about electrical potential that might have been built up in the satellite while it had been in orbit. I must dig out the story and re-read it. . . It goes back to about 1965. . .

It had never occurred to me that the moon would have an effect on the position of the Geostationary Satellites. . . The implication is that there is no such thing as a permanent orbit for ANY satellite. . . Am I correct? The Moon is, indeed, a Harsh Mistress.

[elopeous]

I am happy we finally got the grabber unit from the techtree

[misium]

3:38" It will maneuver behind it, insert a probe into it and grab its thrust chamber".

[lbogaardt]

8:20 Can this also be used to de-orbit old satellites?

[staggerwings]

The MEV reminds me of those early animations of a retrovirus attaching itself to a cell wall.

[ninjasiren]

Comments:
80% - Satellite Rule 34
15% - Earth is Kerbin
5% - Actual curious people. (Deorbiting, recycling, stuff)

[Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

FWIW: That _nozzle docking_ thing reminded me that I had a medical appointment just a couple of days ago, and I got _the finger wave, _ if you take my meaning...😊

[animtorfiddler]

As an Animation producer and enthusiast, I would love to see production credits for those animated sequences. Thanks.

[sundayridetexas]

When real life is just as cool as science fiction. Ty for the cool science video.