Best of What's New 2007


Aviation & Space
Darpa Orbital Express

A robotic handyman for satellite repair

In April, Boeing’s Autonomous Space Transport Robotic Operations (Astro) satellite eased up to the Ball Aerospace NextSat, docked with it, and successfully transferred fuel and parts, with no human intervention. This program, dubbed Orbital Express, was the first autonomous refueling and repair of one satellite by another— heralding an end to expensive manned repair missions. Astro used a laser-and-reflector guidance system to continuously monitor its speed and angle of approach relative to NextSat, and a robot arm reached out and grabbed the target satellite when it was in range. darpa.mil


  
Email This
Digg del.icio.us reddit Fark Slashdot
OTHER WINNERS IN Aviation & Space




CNES Corot
The Satellite Searching for the Next Earth




Cessna 162 SkyCatcher Light Sport Aircraft
THE STARTER PLANE




Vision Systems International Helmet-Mounted Display
SUPER-VISION FOR FIGHTER PILOTS




NASA Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy
HAVE SCOPE, WILL TRAVEL




Boeing EA-18G Growler
A RADAR-JAMMING JET




ESA/EADS Astrium Automated Transfer Vehicle
The space station’s delivery truck




QinetiQ Zephyr
MARATHON FLYER




Eclipse Concept Jet
JETS GET PERSONAL




Darpa Orbital Express
A robotic handyman for satellite repair




V-22 Joint Program Office/Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey
The tilt-rotor copter finally flies




Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias Gran Telescopio Canarias
THE WORLD’s LARGEST TELESCOPE