OSAM-1

OSAM-1 (On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1) was a cancelled NASA spacecraft designed to test on-orbit refilling of satellites. It was previously known as Restore-L.^[1][2][3]

Originally scheduled to launch in 2020,^[4] its launch at the time of cancellation was planned for no earlier than 2026.^[5] Its primary objective was the complex refueling of Landsat 7, a satellite launched in 1999. This would have involved grasping the satellite with a mechanical arm, gaining access to the satellite's fuel tank by cutting through insulation and wires and unscrewing a bolt, and then attaching a hose to pump in hydrazine fuel. This was expected to have been the first refueling of a satellite in space, and a demonstration of the potential to repair the thousands of active satellites in orbit and keep them in operation.^[1] Because the satellites now in space were not designed to be serviced, there are significant challenges to doing so successfully.^[1][2]

OSAM-1's second objective was to deploy a separate robot called SPIDER (Space Infrastructure Dexterous Robot) to build a new structure in space. Using robots to build and assemble new structural components from scratch would be an important step towards a type of space-based construction that had been impossible to date.^[1]