[AR] Re: Orbital refueling to be tested
- From: Chris Jones <clj@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 17 Oct 2020 17:56:15 -0400
On 10/17/20 5:13 PM, Jonathan Goff wrote:
Even though it's pretty obvious that in-space refueling makes a ton
of operational sense, and it's been so for at least 60yrs, it's still
been a long-hill battle trying to convince people who see NASA as a
launch vehicle operator first and foremost.
The Soviet Union/Russia have been using Progress ships since 1978 to
refuel 4 different space stations. The Chinese used a Tianzhou cargo
craft to refuel a Tiangong space lab in 2017, getting ready for similar
operations with their upcoming space stations. If the Russians ever
follow through on their idea of splitting the ISS and carving out a
Russia-only station, the remaining partners are going to be sorry the
European ATV, which refueled ISS between 2008-2014, was retired without
a successor.
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