Restore-L: Robotic Satellite Servicing Project

Released Wednesday, March 23, 2016

ID: 12023

- Produced by:
- Stuart A. Snodgrass
- Videography:
- Rob Andreoli

The Restore-L project will develop technologies for on-orbit rendezvous with, inspection, repair and refueling of a client satellite, all of which are vital for a future satellite servicing capability. NASA is proactively transferring Restore-L technologies to all interested U.S. companies to help jumpstart a new domestic satellite servicing industry, and position the U.S. as the global leader of in-space satellite maintenance, upgrade and assembly.

Learn more about Restore-L and NASA’s satellite servicing technologies: https://sspd.gsfc.nasa.gov/

For media inquiries, please contact: Clare Skelly at (301) 286-4994.

Restore-L Development

NASA engineers use mock-ups to evaluate and refine concepts. A mock-up of a satellite and an early robotic arm prototype are used to develop Restore-L.

Restore-L Development

NASA engineers use mock-ups to evaluate and refine concepts. A mock-up of a satellite and an early robotic arm prototype are used to develop Restore-L.

Restore-L Development

NASA engineers use mock-ups to evaluate and refine concepts. A mock-up of a satellite and an early robotic arm prototype are used to develop Restore-L.

Robotic Servicing Arm

NASA is developing a 2-meter class, seven-degree-of-freedom robotic arm for Restore-L. Here, an early development unit is shown. This working, ground-based version helps NASA hone, refine and evaluate the design.

Robotic Servicing Arm

Timelapse by DHG Creative

Restore-L Development at the Robotic Operations Center

In this time-lapse NASA engineers, standing in front of a mock-up of Restore-L, describe NASA’s satellite servicing technologies to tour guests.

Timelapse by DHG Creative

Robotic Simulations

Within the Robotic Operations Center at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, engineers use industrial robots and mock-ups to simulate how objects move and interact with each other in space. NASA is using this data to develop and refine Restore-L.