DARPA Developing 'Droid' Satellites

eliot1785 writes "DARPA is now developing a new breed of satellites that can be precision-maneuvered in unison and easily perform advanced operations with built-in sensors, computers and thrusters. From the article: 'David Miller, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Space Systems Laboratory, says such satellites might be used for such tasks as building giant space telescopes and closely monitoring Earth. The shuttle Discovery last week delivered the second of three satellite test "droids" that are undergoing experiments at the International Space Station.'"

Re:the obvious use

[kilonad]

Anytime DARPA or any other defense agency mentions "telescopes" they're usually referring to the kind that point down, not up. I see this as a potential test bed for a possible future interferometry-based spy satellite (be it SIGINT or IMINT).

It's frightening and a bit maddening...

[solitas]

"I [David Miller, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Space Systems Laboratory] rented the first 'Star Wars' movie and showed (a) class the scene where Luke is practicing the use of the Force with a floating droid," Miller told the Christian Science Monitor. "I said: 'I want three of those. How do we start doing this?'"

...that an educational administrator can watch a 'Saturday morning serial'-kind of movie and can "start doing this" by finding enough budgetary feebs at NASA & DARPA that'll give him a wet-dream-amount of OUR tax $$$ for "satellites [that] might be used for such tasks as building giant space telescopes and closely monitoring Earth".

Yeah - "might": just about as plausible as defending the Earth from the FSM [wikipedia.org], or killing the Ori [wikipedia.org], or letting us know when the Vogons [wikipedia.org] arrive. WTF - don't we already have sufficient technology for satellites that can "closely" monitor the Earth?

More likely they'll just end-up being more orbital junk endangering something-or-other or making pretty, bright flashes when they de-orbit. Yeah, Miller - keep finding gov't funding for practically anything for MIT or else the management might look for someone who can.

Re:It's frightening and a bit maddening...

[Nefarious Wheel]

This would not be the first time that science has followed science fiction. Imagination is always first car in the clue train.

Re:the obvious use

[eplossl]

While I agree with the previous poster, I would also note that such a satellite would, almost certainly, also be very useful to have from an astronomical standpoint. Think VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) or ULBI (ultra-long baseline interferometry). With enough of these satellites all working together and spread over an appropriate distance, we could potentially get a lot of information about neighboring solar systems. Add to that the possibility of using these sorts of devices for remote surveying of planets in neighboring solar systems (for identification of mineral/atmosphere conditions) and this technology could become extremely useful.

Granted, we are a few years off from interstellar travel, but it's certainly a thought.

Can scientists and engineers PLEASE...

[Alex Belits]

...start developing their own ideas, and not just turn science fiction movies props into toys? Sure, Arthur C Clarke had some pretty good ideas (having a goal to make realistic things in the first place -- what Star Wars never had), but even trying to make something that looks like a shuttle from "2001" movie ended up a rather suboptimal vehicle (that was obsolete in a *real* 2001, leave alone now).

Can anyone please tell us, what would be the projected lifetime of those things in open space with ways of storing energy/fuel that are going to be available within 10-15 years? That means, no thermonuclear shit, thermonuclear was 25 years away for 50 years already, thankyouverymuch.

What about precision of movement while performing any operation that a drunk guy in a space suit over another space suit over pajamas won't do better? How many times the expected mass of that thing is going to increase to be able to use a screwdriver? Hello anyone? Did anyone think about any relevant technical issues at all, or the goal was to make a prop for "Star Wars VII: Palpatine Is Still Alive, Dammit" to be shot entirely on ISS (and released exclusively there, too)?