The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency achieved a milestone yesterday with the successful launch of two Orbital Express demonstration vehicles aboard an Atlas 5 rocket. The Orbital Express program is a far-out idea even for Darpa. The idea is to make space a less expensive venue in which to operate so the United States can continue its technical superiority there. That doesn't sound revolutionary, but what is revolutionary is that Darpa wants to do this by building service vehicles that would refuel, upgrade, and eventually build satellites in space. Orbital Express is a first step toward that goal by enabling on-orbit upgrades to satellite capabilities, and space vehicle refueling, which would lessen the number of times the United States has to launch a rocket into space, a job that costs in the 10s of millions of dollars.
Just a quickie as I run out the door.
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