Robotic Refueling: Paving the Way for Exploration

One small box of technology is getting NASA one step closer to future exploration missions. The Robotic Refueling Mission 3, or RRM3, will prove technologies to transfer and store common consumables, like spacecraft fuel, in space.
NASA has its eyes on human exploration, including venturing forward to the Moon and Mars. First, the agency must develop and perfect the technologies and capabilities needed for these missions.
Affixed to the International Space Station, RRM3 will use a suite of three tools and the station’s robotic handyman, Dextre, to transfer and store cryogenic propellant (e.g., liquid methane). These capabilities have applications ranging from in-situ resource utilization to solar electric propulsion to maintaining long-term life support systems.
RRM3 is set to launch to the Space Station onboard SpaceX’s 16th commercial resupply services mission. Once installed to the exterior of the station, the transfer and storage technologies will be put to the test.
RRM3 builds on the first two phases of International Space Station technology demonstrations that tested tools, technologies and techniques to refuel and repair satellites in orbit. It is developed and operated by the Satellite Servicing Projects Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, under direction of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.
Learn more about RRM3:
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Stuart A. Snodgrass (KBRwyle): Lead Producer
Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET Systems Inc.): Technical Support
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