NRL Developing Space 'Tow Truck' Technology For Satellite Operations

The Naval Research Laboratory's Naval Center for Space Technology has achieved a key milestone toward the development of autonomous servicing of unaided spacecraft. Working with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), NRL has developed, tested and ground-demonstrated guidance and control algorithms to allow a robotic servicing vehicle to autonomously rendezvous and dock with customer satellites not pre-designed for docking.