Posted: Thu, Jul 5, 2007, 8:00 AM ET (1200 GMT)
The US government agency responsible for a mission to test on-orbit satellite servicing plans to decommission the spacecraft starting today. DARPA officials confirmed this week that the Orbital Express mission will be decommissioned starting today, by disconnecting the two spacecraft involved in the mission, NextSat and ASTRO, drifting them apart, and safing the individual satellites. NextSat, the smaller of the two, is expected to reenter the Earth's atmosphere on its own in three to five years, but ASTRO may remain in orbit for 15 more years before reentering. Orbital Express was launched in March on a mission to test technologies that could be used to refuel and service future spacecraft. The mission completed its final planned experiment in late June, when the spacecraft separated to a distance of seven kilometers and then redocked. There were proposals for additional experiments by the Air Force and/or NASA, including tests of rendezvous and docking techniques that could be used on future Mars sample return missions, but no agreement could be reached to extend the mission.

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