{"id":17876,"date":"2019-11-18T18:04:50","date_gmt":"2019-11-18T10:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nanoracks-aims-to-test-habitat-building-method-during-spacex-satellite-mission\/"},"modified":"2019-11-18T18:04:50","modified_gmt":"2019-11-18T10:04:50","slug":"nanoracks-aims-to-test-habitat-building-method-during-spacex-satellite-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nanoracks-aims-to-test-habitat-building-method-during-spacex-satellite-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Nanoracks aims to test habitat-building method during SpaceX satellite mission"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Nanoracks
An artist\u2019s conception shows the deployment of hardware that would deploy a set of nanosatellites and then demonstrate a robotic metal-cutting technique for in-space habitat construction. (Nanoracks Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nanoracks says it\u2019ll put a metal-cutting robot to work in orbit next year as part of a satellite deployment mission, marking the first in-space test of a key habitat-building technology.<\/p>\n

All this is due to be done under the umbrella of SpaceX\u2019s SmallSat Rideshare Program, which promises to provide a regular route to space for small satellites.<\/p>\n

The hardware for Texas-based Nanoracks\u2019 first in-space outpost demonstration mission is due to ride aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in late 2020. If the demonstration works, that would mark a significant step forward for Nanoracks\u2019 plan to convert spent rocket stages into outposts for Earth orbit and deep space.<\/p>\n

GeekWire was the first to report on Nanoracks\u2019 outpost concept, more than a year and a half ago. The concept envisions setting construction robots loose inside a rocket\u2019s upper stage, such as the Centaur stage of United Launch Alliance\u2019s Atlas 5, after its fuel has been expended.<\/p>\n

The robots would retrofit the upper stage and its fuel tanks to accommodate an air lock, storage space and even accommodations for human occupants. Nanoracks has offered the concept for consideration in NASA\u2019s NextSTEP-2 space habitat initiative.<\/p>\n

Nanoracks\u2019 NASA-funded demonstration is meant to show that a robot built by one of its NextSTEP-2 teammates, Maxar Technologies, can cut samples of second-stage tank material safely and efficiently in space.<\/p>\n

\u201cStructural metal cutting has never been done in space, and SpaceX is honored to help deliver a demonstration of this capability to orbit,\u201d SpaceX\u2019s president and chief operating officer, Gwynne Shotwell, said today in a Nanoracks news release. \u201cIt\u2019s promising to see more companies like Nanoracks investing in new technologies to advance the exploration of the moon and, ultimately, Mars.\u201d<\/p>\n

The demonstration will make use of an articulated robotic arm with a friction milling end-effector. The device is designed to mill into metal at high rotations per minute, melting the material so that a cut is made without generating orbital debris.<\/p>\n

Over the course of about an hour, the robot would complete the cutting of three metal pieces that are representative of the material used in several types of rocket upper stages, including ULA\u2019s Centaur. Nanoracks plans to download photos and videos of the friction milling and cutting.<\/p>\n

The experiment would take place after the deployment of eight Spire Lemur-2 nanosatellites, which are due to be launched on the same flight under a deal that Nanoracks brokered with SpaceX. Spire\u2019s Earth-observing and weather-tracking satellites would all fit alongside Nanoracks\u2019 self-contained hosted payload platform on a standard piece of satellite deployment hardware known as an ESPA ring.<\/p>\n

Nanoracks CEO Jeffrey Manber said it\u2019s \u201cbeyond incredible\u201d to bring together satellite deployments with an in-orbit construction demonstration on a single mission. \u201cThis is the power of commercial, and speaks loudly to the efforts of both NASA and industry to build a successful and competitive ecosystem in low Earth orbit,\u201d Manber said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An artist\u2019s conception shows the deployment of hardware that would deploy a set of nanosatellites and then demonstrate a robotic metal-cutting technique for in-space habitat construction. (Nanoracks Illustration) Nanoracks says it\u2019ll put a metal-cutting robot to work in orbit next year as part of a satellite deployment mission, marking the first in-space test of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1524,20,442,4922,4491,316,3988],"class_list":["post-17876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-nanoracks","tag-satellite","tag-satellites","tag-space-habitats","tag-space-outposts","tag-spacex","tag-spire"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17876"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17876\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}