China refuels satellite in orbit
July 4, 2016
By Chris Forrester
China’s National University of Defense Technology said June 30th that it had successfully refuelled an orbiting satellite. The satellite, Tianyuan-1, was launched into space on June 25th by a powerful Long March-7 rocket from the Wenchang launch site in Hainan Province.
The team say that a full series of tests were verified after the launch, and video images taken of the process.
Successfully re-fuelling communications satellites is seen as something of a ‘Holy Grail’, and a handful of ‘western’ satellite developers are working on solutions. A number of satellite operators, including Intelsat and SES, are also expressing strong interest in the technology.