A two-armed space robot blasted off on a private salvage operation to slap life-extending jetpacks on old satellites running low on fuel thousands of miles up.
Private Space Mission
Launched by SpaceX, Northrop Grumman’s mission robotic vehicle — dubbed MRV — and its jetpacks will spend the next year angling into the proper orbit 22,300 miles above Earth. Hundreds of satellites orbit at this so-called geosynchronous orbit, where they match the speed of Earth’s rotation and keep to the same part of the sky for continuous coverage.
Once in place by mid-2027, the minivan-sized spacecraft will use its 10-foot arms to attach a jetpack to an aging communication satellite. Then it will zip off to two more satellites in need. Each jetpack — the size of a washing machine — will provide the necessary oomph for an out-of-gas satellite to keep operating for several more years instead of retiring.
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.
