Image Caption: In space, a robot servicer could use propellant transfer technologies to extend the life of orbiting satellites (depicted, artists concept). Credit: NASA

Dewayne Washington/Adrienne Alessandro NASA

[ Watch The Video: Another Step Toward Servicing Satellites in Space ]

Its corrosive, its hazardous, and it can cause an explosion powerful enough to thrust a satellite forward in space. Multiple NASA centers are currently conducting a remotely controlled test of new technologies that would empower future space robots to transfer this dangerous fluid satellite oxidizer into the propellant tanks of spacecraft in space today.

Building on the success of the International Space Stations landmark Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) demonstration, the ground-based Remote Robotic Oxidizer Transfer Test (RROxiTT) is taking another step forward in NASAs ongoing campaign to develop satellite-servicing capabilities for space architectures and human exploration.

On Earth, RROxiTT technologies could one day be applied to robotically replenish satellites before they launch, keeping humans at a safe distance during an extremely hazardous operation.

Building on the Past to Set the Stage for the Future

In January 2013, RRM demonstrated that remotely controlled robots using current-day technology could work through the caps and wires on a satellite fuel valve and transfer fluid into existent, orbiting spacecraft that were not designed to be serviced. To meet the safety requirements of space station, ethanol was used as a stand-in for satellite fuel. For the team that conceived and built RRM, the Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office (SSCO) at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., the successful conclusion of this refueling demonstration was not the end of their work only the beginning.

We were immensely pleased with RRM results. But doing more was always part of the plan, says Benjamin Reed, deputy project manager of SSCO. There were certain aspects of satellite refueling that couldnt be demonstrated safely while we were using space station as a test bed aspects that we chose to defer to a later test date. RROxiTT is the next step in that technology development.

Taking lessons learned from RRM, the SSCO team devised the ground-based RROxiTT to test how robots can transfer oxidizer, at flight-like pressures and flow rates, through the propellant valve and into the mock tank of a satellite that was not designed to be serviced in space.

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NASA Currently Testing New Technologies For Robotic Refueling