A inauguration company has announced that it hop to build an revolve flatulence station to serve other satellites .
In an interview withSpaceNews , the Silicon Valley ship’s company Orbit Fab said they had raised funding for an initiatory launch as ahead of time as next class . The company finally wants to identify armored combat vehicle containing different type of fuel in orbit , which other satellites could use to refuel .
“ We differentiate ourselves from the satellite service operators in that we ’re expect to put up just slow tanks full of propellent , to cater that propellant where it ’s needed , and we ’re looking to partner with the planet servicing operators to help meliorate their business models , ” CEO Daniel Faber allege in the interview .
Ontheir internet site , the company has a abbreviated roadmap outline , which begins with launching a single faculty storage at an unspecified particular date . Then , they plan to place three separate depots in three different orbits , before at long last having a station that can manufacture its own fuel .
The idea appear to be that Orbit Fab will essentially operate giant fuel tank in space . Then , upcoming planet servicing fomite – which may enter serving in the issue forth years – would trip to the depots , gather up fuel , and take that to other satellites .
Keeping satellites fueled in orbit is anongoing issue , with a number of solutions proposedover the years . Some have looked into using other servicing satellites to refuel in orbit , while there have been several other orbiting gas station purport before .
In July this year , Virginia startup Cislunar Space Development Company alsoannounced its intentionto build gas place in eye socket , split up oxygen and atomic number 1 from water in orbit to be used as fuel . They noted this could make trip to the Moon more feasible .
Other companies are operate on satellite service vehicles , include Orbital ATK , whohope to launchtheir new Mission Robotic Vehicle in 2021 . Another company , Maxar Technologies in the UK , is count at exchangeable engineering science .
Orbit Fab ’s foreign mission next yr will be done in partnership with NASA , although they have n’t yet released details on what the mission will imply . Other contingent , such as when on the button the launch will be or what garden rocket they will travel on , have also not been released .
It does search like satellite service and refueling may becomequite a bountiful dealin the coming years , not only for satellites in Earth orbit but for missions in cryptical outer space such as asteroid mining . Perhaps orbital fuel store like that proposed by Orbit Fab will become commonplace .
