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What happens to old satellites?

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NASA.

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We Asked a NASA Technologist.

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Typically, satellites, if they run out of fuel

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or something happens to it where it's just not working,

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it is essentially orbiting around the Earth "dead."

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So what happens eventually is gravity

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will continuously pull on it and bring it down.

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If that satellite, upon reentering into
the atmosphere does not burn up,

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sometimes you'll find pieces of that
structure on one of our large continents or in the ocean.

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We don't want that to happen.

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So if a spacecraft ran out of fuel or has a bad part,

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it'd be great if we could fix it.

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That's why NASA is working on in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing capabilities.

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OSAM-1 — On-orbit Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing Mission 1 — is coming to you very soon.

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There are capabilities and technologies
that will allow us to sustain

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some of our key assets, so that if they have
a bad instrument or they want to upgrade,

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we can do that in space.

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Essentially, that is going to help NASA
explore and create missions

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that are going to improve our capabilities
from the Moon, Mars and beyond.

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So, what happens to old satellites?

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Well, currently they either burn up upon
reentry or they remain in space dead.

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But all that's going to change with OSAM-1.
It's going to be the game-changer

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that is going to help them become sustainable and upgradeable for the future.