All those spacecraft and
satellites even the mining buggies, could one day operate on their own, guided not by humans but
by automated robots. It can be possible by
rendezvous and docking technologies now being developed by NASA and its partners.Those technologies will be tested in field shortly when a Atlas V rocket will be fired on 8th March. The rocketis named Orbital Express. It will launch two test
satellites called ASTRO(Autonomous Space Transport Robotic Operations)service vehicle and NextSat( Next-generation serviceable satellite)"Our goal is to demonstrate on-orbit refueling, component exchange and satellite repair--all without a human operator," says James Lee, the MSFC Automated Rendezvous and Docking Projects Lead.Simply saying ASTRO will dock with NextSat and service it. Once docked there will be the first unassisted component exchange in space history