Satellite refuelling is the operation of replenishing on board propellants and other consumables in satellites in orbit, e.g. in geostationary orbit around Earth.

Contents

• Examples
• Contracts
• Standards
• Alternatives
• References

This could be for storable propellants, and later for cryogenic propellants.

Examples

• Space Infrastructure Servicing by Canadian MDA
• Orbital Express — a 2007 U.S. government-sponsored mission to test in-space satellite servicing with two vehicles designed from the start for on-orbit refueling and subsystem replacement.
• Robotic Refueling Mission, a series of NASA projects, including cryogenics transfer tests at ISS

Standards

• Rapidly Attachable Fluid Transfer Interface, for non-cryogenic fluids and gases
• ASSIST, for docking, ground tested by a consortium of European companies. ^[2]

Alternatives

Rather than refuel, another craft could attach itself to the customer satellite and provide any desired propulsion. E.g.:

• Mission Extension Vehicle, of Northrop Grumman, MEV-1 in operation in 2021.

References

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