Orbit Fab - Gas stations in space

It's happening - at least.
Every single smart idea invented since the dawn of the space age - but grounded by "10 000 $ per pound launch cost to orbit" for decades - is on the table again, this time for real.
I spent countless hours since 2002 filling my HD with a crapton of tech papers. Now the time has come.
What a time to be alive.
 
I watched, starting in the early 1970s, various X-plane and space projects disappear for no reason I could discover. Today, B-52s and U-2s still fly as if the late 1950s was the best we could do. Landing on the moon was great but as time passed, mission after mission to Mars appeared and disappeared. Mission to Mars by 2010? Didn't happen. Better boosters? Not really. Reusable boosters? OK.

Going back to the Moon? I won't believe it until the first astronauts are on their way.
 
no but it would be a great asset to long range missions being able to refuel in orbit and have alot of burn time for orbital slingshotting towards mars, jupiter and such and emergency manuevers put a suborbital station at mars for a sample return mission
 
spacenews.com

Orbit Fab secures deal to refuel Astroscale's satellite-servicing robots

Orbit Fab secures deal to refuel Astroscale's satellite-servicing robots
spacenews.com spacenews.com

WASHINGTON — Astroscale U.S., a provider of on-orbit services to extend the life of satellites, has signed an agreement to use Orbit Fab’s in-space refueling tankers, the companies announced Jan. 11.

Orbit Fab, a startup offering “gas stations in space,” will refuel Astroscale’s geostationary satellite servicing spacecraft known as LEXI, short for Life Extension In-Orbit.

The agreement commits Orbit Fab to supply up to 1,000 kilograms of Xenon propellant to refuel Astroscale’s LEXI vehicles, the first of which is projected to launch in 2026.

LEXI will provide services like station keeping and attitude control, momentum management, inclination correction, geostationary orbit relocation and retirement to graveyard orbit, said Lopez.
Click to expand...
 
It's really interesting on the paper. But the economic model of it will vanish in front of hall thruster and directed energy.
Don't take me wrong, I very much like the Jules Verne side of it. But is late 1800 really the future of space?
 

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