Thanks, as always, Theresa Hitchens for the insightful reporting. I get the skepticism. I get the concern that the industry might not be there. These are just of few things that are still unknown in this nascent, and game changing capability. What I don't understand is why not make these satellites capable of refueling? Whether you do or don't refuel them is a question that can be answered as the technology matures. Why not at least study what it would take to pivot now vs. waiting a decade or more and spending $10+B on an architecture that is, from a maneuver warfare standpoint, no better than what we have today. Instead of waiting for the answer, why don't we drive to the answer?
This is the same wall we beat our heads on with in-space assembly and manufacturing. No one outside of NASA STMD was willing to do anything substantial and that wasn’t a big enough market after Redwire acquired us.
I'd be all over this debate if I was still in the newsroom.
CTO, Founder, OrbitsEdge Inc
4moIsn't Orbit Fab supplying Rafti modules for a very favorable price? There's no reason to NOT include one.