Robotics Aim to Enable a More Profitable and Sustainable Future in Space

The in-space economy is a dynamically developing part of the space ecosystem, as the space industry works to commercialize ways to refuel and extend the lives of satellites.

During the robotics and satellite servicing panel on March 21 during SATELLITE 2022, Robert Hauge, president of Northrop Grumman subsidiary SpaceLogistics, made the analogy that no one would buy a new car if it stopped working when it ran out of fuel, and he sees satellite servicing the same way.

With over 400 satellites in Geostationary Orbit (GEO), there is a large potential target market for Northrop Grumman.

“Our business model will allow you to extend the life [of a satellite] six to seven years,” Hauge said. “The interesting question I get asked is, ‘Am I running out of fuel after 15 years, how do we know?’ The industry is seeing how the model changes. We will make space more sustainable. We will upgrade satellites with more fuel.”

In terms of bringing the costs down, Hauge spoke of recent conversations with the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) for its in-orbit satellite services and how it could lead to an opportunity to support the U.S. Space Force, MoD, and ADF in a way that could bring collaboration and lower costs.

One of the keys to a sustainable future is making sure companies can make money from such endeavors. Al Tadros, chief growth officer of Redwire said, “The opportunity here is what are the architectures of the future that will be more profitable? We build spacecraft largely to survive launch. We need to build systems that are optimized for the operational environment in space. The profit potential is the biggest opportunity to build sustainable architectures. Sustainability and profitability can really match well together.”

Tadros said there are a lot of great technologies that are being demonstrated and deployed right now, but technology isn’t everything — the business model is key. He added, “Robotics in space has to be proportional in terms of costs. It can’t be three times more expensive.”

Daniel Faber, CEO of Orbit Fab, a company that is working on refueling satellites in space, believes that once satellite companies can do this, it will open up a series of opportunities for them.

“Once you have fuel you can start recycling equipment. You can think about what this means in terms of repurposing. You think about flexibility and business models. Reuse, launch less, means you run things more efficiently. There is an in-space economy developing,” Faber said.

The panel stuck an optimistic tone for the future as companies look to propel this debate from concept to commercial reality. Ron Lopez, president and managing director of Astroscale U.S. said this movement to robotics and in-satellite services represents a “paradigm shift.”

“It will allow owners/operators to think about their business models in a different way, what they launch, how they launch. It will enhance space sustainability as well as the bottom line,” Lopez said. “The fact we are even talking about this is fantastic. There is a huge level of awareness in space sustainability.” VS