Satellite servicing

Sending a spacecraft to refuel, repair, reposition or extend the life of a satellite already in orbit.

Why it matters

Almost every satellite ever built was designed to be thrown away, and most are retired while still working simply because they run out of propellant. Servicing attacks that waste directly: a life-extension vehicle that docks to a healthy but empty satellite can add years to an asset worth hundreds of millions. The obstacle is that the targets were never designed to be approached, let alone grabbed - so the hard problem is the same one debris removal faces.

In our data

This is a small field measured against launch activity, but it is visible among the 21 companies profiled here, and it shares its core technology - close approach to an uncooperative target - with the debris-removal missions in our tracker.

Where we use it

Not to be confused with

Active debris removal, which targets objects that are already dead and aims to dispose of them, while servicing targets working satellites and aims to keep them alive.