[sidewndr46]

sure seems like this could just as easily be used to perform on-orbit disassembly of a hostile nation's satellite?

[bespokedevelopr]

Yes, China demonstrated this capability a couple year ago with towing a geo sat to a different orbit. It only makes sense to go tit-for-tat on these capabilities for servicing and the unspoken offensive ability.

https://spacenews.com/chinas-orbital-maneuvers-blur-the-line...

[aqfamnzc]

I would think there are much less expensive and more rapid methods of "on-orbit disassembly" than a system like this?

[ceejayoz]

None of them can drop nice deniable limpet mines that go off much later, though.

[ben_w]

If I was going to attempt that, instead of a complex repair bot, I'd be asking if the combination of a Raspberry Pi Pico, minimal sensors/comms, small ion drive, and PV can be made smaller than whatever the tracking radar's wavelength is. Launch thousands in one go in a big boring-seeming box, to a completely different orbit, release the pies and let orbital velocity do the damage on impact.

(Actually hitting is of course hard, even under power, but on the other hand if you miss you get to re-use the same impactor for another attempt perhaps every 47 minutes depending on the orbit).

[spieswl]

Absolutely, although it's a different ball of wax if you're trying to do RPO of this complexity with an adversarial body.

[JumpCrisscross]

> on-orbit disassembly of a hostile nation's satellite?

Too complicated for disassembly. But totally valid for modification.