Private mission launches to extend life of out-of-gas communication satellites

A two-armed space robot is on its way to give extra life to out-of-gas satellites thousands of miles up. SpaceX launched Northrop Grumman’s spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Tuesday afternoon. It’s the second satellite-saving mission to soar this month. Another company’s spacecraft rocketed into orbit at the beginning of July to boost NASA’s Swift Observatory. The aging telescope will crash to Earth this fall unless it’s lifted into a higher orbit. Northrop’s robotic helper is targeting communication satellites 22,300 miles above Earth. It’s carrying three jetpacks to provide extra oomph to three faltering satellites.

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