Canada’s Dextre robot refuels mock satellite from the ISS in a first-of-a-kind experiment

Canada has yet another feather to add to its cap with Dextre, the Canadian Space Agency’s dual-armed mechanical “handyman” having successfully refuelled a “mock satellite” on the exterior of the station, as part of a joint Robotic Refuelling Mission by NASA and the CSA. The exercise showed exactly how satellites could be refuelled up in space thus giving them a fresh new lease of life. According to CSA this is a first and will go down in history.

Dextre has been demonstrating since 2011 via some three tests how it could even service those satellites that were not intended to be opened up in space. Then a few days ago, NASA and CSA robotics controllers succeeded in removing two safety caps from a mock satellite the size of a washing machine. The robot also cut off two sets of retaining wires and pumped in a bit of ethanol. The latter in particular was tricky, since handling liquids in space requires perfect precision so that there are no dangerous leaks. The specialized tools developed for this let Dextre seal the connections between the tool and the fuel valve and thereby avoid the possibility of leaks. Making the job more challenging was the fuel hose itself, which added forces that pulled at Dextre’s hands. It took the high level combined skills of the experienced NASA and CSA robotics controllers to ensure that this experiment was pulled off successfully.

Dextre’s trials prove that it is indeed possible to adopt proactive ways to keep existing hardware going in space. This could mean that sometime in the future satellite operators will be in a position to save significant costs of building and launching new replacement satellites. Currently, there are more than 1100 active satellites suspended in the near-Earth environment some of which cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Add to this some 2500 inactive satellites that continue to orbit the earth and you will understand the magnitude of the savings that could be achieved. ¬