Why is it important to repair space satellites?
ANT61 vision of on-orbit service and construction
Space Debris Growing Issue
There are thousands of big satellites out there in space. Each is roughly the size of a bedroom and weighs 3–5 tonnes. The satellites allow us to not only find crucial floods and bush fire warnings, receive up-to-date satellite imagery and phone calls from the outback, but also provide us entertainment such as sports broadcasts.
However, every year nine of them are turned into space debris. Most of the satellites die because of a small component: a battery the size of a laptop runs out of cycles and can no longer power the satellite systems, or one of their solar panels gets damaged. Currently, 516 geo-stationary class satellites could be brought to life if their battery is replaced. Instead, they are just floating space junk that has become a significant hazard to spacecraft, including The International Space Station, which has to adjust its course to avoid collisions regularly.
Before 2020 all satellites that run out of fuel or battery have been abandoned. Only in 2009, NASA has upgraded the Hubble telescope with a crew of 4 people on a Space Shuttle mission at the cost of $1.1B. In 2020, Space Logistics attached a new engine to another satellite, giving it an orbit boost. However, apart from the Hubble mission, none has ever replaced a faulty part, like a battery inside a satellite.
ANT61 Solution
And here at ANT61, we decided that we need to find a way to make satellite repair a standard practice. This efficient and relatively cheap procedure would allow us to address Goal 12 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals for responsible consumption and production. Repairing and upgrading existing satellites and prolonging their useful life would limit space debris and ultimately facilitate creating safer conditions for humanity’s future in space.
Currently, we are building the prototype of the first autonomous on-orbit repair robot. Unlike other on-orbit servicing solutions currently in development, our robots do not rely on remote control from Earth. Instead, we use AI-based control systems that allow our robots to work autonomously and with high precision and accuracy. As a result, our robots don’t need to maintain a costly high-bandwidth communication link with the ground station at all times, which can save us on energy, size and weight and thus can offer a much lower cost compared to the competition.
The goal is to build our space robots agile and versatile, able to perform complex installation tasks, including satellite part replacements, upgrades and on-orbit construction and assembly.
Some say it’s naive to think that humanity’s development can be sustainable.
Yet we’re certain that the technologies we have today will pave the way to this bright future for all humankind.
