Requiem for a Pair of Orbiting Space Robots
(… and it goes a little like this )
July 9th 2007, marks the last predicted operational day for the Orbital Express robot pioneers, ASTRO and NextSat, before they are de-orbited, and returned to the earth from whence they came. (albeit faster, and on fire.)
ASTRO and NextSat made robotic history twice this year, first when ASTRO completed an unprecedented autonomous refueling in orbit, and then again in April when ASTRO gave NextSat his battery, 100 miles above the earth at roughly 10,000 miles an hour.
News of the end came as NASA and DARPA had apparently asked the Air Force for a little extra space-robot runtime, but backed down when confronted with the bill.
So observe, if you will, a moment of silence for the bots, maybe spill a little WD-40 on the curb. But remember them, always, at their finest:
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