ASTRO and NextSat

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From an online article at Science@NASA

March 5, 2007: It's the year 2020, and space has never been so busy. Picture this:
In Earth orbit, a robotic maintenance ship skitters from one weather satellite to another, upgrading powerful optics that help meteorologists track dangerous storms.
Four hundred thousand kilometers away, a cargo ferry arrives at the Moon. It spots an orbiting depot, makes its approach and mates flawlessly, offloading drill heads, solar panels and other supplies for a frontier outpost at the Moon's south pole.
Meanwhile, down on thee lunar surface, mining buggies trundle along a "sensor highway" between the outpost and some nearby hills. They're harvesting lunar ice hidden in the shadows of a deep, cold crater.
Oh yeah – there's not a single human operator in this hypothetical scenario




NASA with DARPA has launched, or is launching this week, (March 8) a pair of satellites to test robotic automated docking, refuelling, and component exchange procedures between two satellites, ASTRO and NextSat. The details of the mission can be found at this link.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/05mar_nohands.htm?list852566

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The launch was a success. Here is an update...

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/09mar_orbitalexpress.htm?list852566

This will be a 3 month test of autonomous docking.

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Here is a brief NASA update on the autonomous docking

mission.http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/06jul_astroandnextsat.htm?list852566

NASA and Darpa would like to keep working with these satellites but the airforce plans to shut them down soon.

Here is a video clip (animation) that does a good job detailing the mission.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/images/astroandnextsat/OEScenario5HighDef-7Jun07.wmv