Comments on: The new in-space repair and refueling industries that are about to revolutionize space exploration

By: GaryMike

GaryMike — Fri, 16 Sep 2022 07:39:14 +0000

There will be satellite piracy.

Suggest a satellite force-projecting body guard for each tug to make it more likely that insurance companies will cover the tugs’ activities.

By: Edward

Edward — Fri, 16 Sep 2022 05:23:30 +0000

This is an excellent essay, showing that there are business models that thirty years ago we hadn’t thought of. No one imagined them. As business and commercial exploration continue, we should see additional business models that we have yet to imagine.

In the 1950s, Disney and von Braun had imagined space stations and regular space shuttles going to Earth orbit and to the Moon, but we are seeing much more, now that we have more and more people innovating their own ideas into reality.

This is the difference between having one government agency in charge and having 7 billion people in charge. Not only are there more imagineers, there is far more investment money available — and the money is becoming less and less tax dollars and more and more investment capital in which we all can invest and profit from the increased capabilities, products, and improved efficiencies.

I am bursting with anticipation for the next innovations and products that are used in space and that are brought back from space as direct benefits to We the 7 billion people on this good Earth.

By: David K

David K — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 12:50:08 +0000

I suspect the larger use case for constellations like starlink will be the ability to deorbit dead satellites so that they can put another in its orbit rather than having a gap for years before it’s orbit decays on its own. And if you have a small fleet of essentially vacuum cleaner spacecraft, they may want a fuel depot.

By: Tom Hill

Tom Hill — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 10:37:39 +0000

Yep, and now we have multiple methods being tried. The best approach will be determined by what works, not by the ones who make the best presentation.

By: Jeff Wright

Jeff Wright — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 05:23:48 +0000

Here’s the problem: if you have big orbital antenna farms with huge dishs-add solar panels and new breadboards if you wish. But the Starlink model is that it is easier to just replace an ailing sat in LEO that is supposed to replace all those low-latency assets you want to service.