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Think Fuel Here on Earth Is Expensive? Wait to Hear How Much It’ll Cost in Space

There are many things in this world that have been promised, but never came to pass. Off the top of my head, and related to what we’re usually covering here on autoevolution, I’m only going to remind you of the decades-old, unfulfilled dream of us moving about in flying cars.
Orbit Fab plans to make space refueling commonplace 16 photos
Photo: Orbit Fab
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In fact, the auto and transportation industries are filled with undelivered realities, and to somewhat a smaller extent (but not by much), so is the space industry. Case in point, and related to what we’re going to talk about in the lines below, space fuel stations for ongoing spacecraft.

The first time we’ve heard about such an outrageous project was back in 2011, when Canadian company MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) said it’d build the world’s first ever space-based fueling station. That was supposed to happen by 2015, but here we are in 2022, and the thing is nowhere to be seen.

To be honest though, 2011 and the following years were not the space industry’s greatest. America was retiring the space shuttle to start focusing on the Moon landing program we now know as Artemis, SpaceX and Blue Origin were not yet forces to be reckoned with, and Virgin Galactic was still in its early years.

The outlook for space exploration is entirely different today. We have more launches performed by more companies than ever, a wealth of space stations are being planned, and pretty much everyone is looking hopefully toward a future when humanity has expanded throughout the solar system.

Orbit Fab plans to make space refueling commonplace
Photo: Orbit Fab
That means sooner than later space, at least the one surrounding our planet, will get very crowded. To be able to sustain the pace, those doing business up there will have to have access to some sort of logistics, including (or especially) ways of refueling.

Several companies are working on servicing hardware that could repair and fuel spacecraft and satellites in orbit and further out, but as far as we know, only one is working toward creating “the in-space propellant supply chain” - Orbit Fab.

The Silicon Valley startup was created back in 2018, and has already been involved in a series of International Space Station (ISS) experiments meant to validate its ideas. The endgame is, however, simply grandiose: Orbit Fab is planning to develop fuel depots and fuel shuttles that will operate in low-Earth orbit, geostationary orbits, and cis-lunar space.

The idea is pretty simple: spacecraft in need of fuel will only have to ask for it, and Orbit Fab will deliver it using yet undeveloped shuttles, after they too filled their tanks at the said depots.

Orbit Fab plans to make space refueling commonplace
Photo: Orbit Fab
Believe it or not, some of the tech imagined for making this idea a reality is already in advanced testing stages. Back in 2021, a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched something called Tanker-001 Tenzing, “the world’s first orbital propellant tanker.”

Tenzing was nothing more than a 35 kg (77 pounds) satellite filled with high-test peroxide (HTP) propellant, and meant to supply suitable spacecraft. The satellite also tested Orbit Fab’s fueling interface, the Rapidly Attachable Fluid Transfer Interface.

RAFTI for short, it’s in fact nothing more that a service valve backed by three alignment markers for the incoming spacecraft to orientate itself by. The system is capable of soft capturing and latching onto the visitor, then allows the transfer of fuel between the two.

All this idea of creating a network of fuel depots in space may seem simple, but it’s probably anything but. Even so, Orbit Fab seems determined to make it a reality, and it plans to have the capability of delivering hydrazine to satellites in 2025.

The price for 100 kg (220 pounds) of the stuff is set at $20 million.

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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
Daniel Patrascu profile photo

Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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