National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASAfacts

NASA’s Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) is an 

International Space Station (ISS) investigation that 

demonstrates and tests the tools, technologies and 

techniques needed to robotically refuel and repair 

satellites in space, especially satellites that were 

not designed to be serviced. 

As worldwide demand grows for satellite-provided 

communication and data products, NASA is using 

RRM to demonstrate technologies needed to keep 

satellites working longer in orbit. RRM is a joint 

effort with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

Meeting the Challenge of a Robotic 

Servicing Frontier

Hundreds of satellites reside in geosynchronous 

Earth orbit, providing such essential services as 

weather reports, communications and television 

broadcasts. Not a single one of these assets was 

designed to be serviced. 

The RRM module contains the components, 

activity boards, and tools to practice satellite 

refueling and repair. NASA is using RRM results 

to prove the reliability of its robotic servicing 

technologies and to bolster the foundation for 

future robotic servicing missions.

How RRM Works

Mounted to an external platform of the ISS, the 

washing-machine-sized RRM module weighs 

approximately 550 pounds (250 kilograms) and 

includes 0.45 gallons (1.7 liters) of liquid ethanol to 

Robotic Refueling Mission

demonstrate fluid transfer. Four unique RRM tools 

are stowed inside the module: the Wire Cutter and 

Blanket Manipulation Tool, the Safety Cap Removal 

Tool, the Multifunction Tool, and the Nozzle Tool.

During RRM operations, the space station’s 

twin-armed Canadian “Dextre” robot acts as a 

skilled spacecraft technician. Remotely controlled 

by mission operators at NASA’s Johnson Space 

Center in Houston, Dextre picks up RRM tools and 

practices tasks on RRM’s components and busy 

boards. Activities include cutting and peeling back 

protective thermal blankets, unscrewing caps, 

accessing valves, and transferring fluid.

NASA is launching a new round of RRM tools and 

task boards to the ISS in the summer of 2013 to 

continue RRM investigations through 2015.

Top RRM Accomplishments

March 2012: RRM proved that remotely controlled 

robots and specialized tools can successfully 

perform extremely precise servicing tasks in 

space. An RRM tool at the end of more than 

70 feet worth of teleoperated robotics cut wires 

the thickness of four sheets of paper with only 

millimeters of clearance. 

NASA designed the RRM module and tools to 

practice satellite-servicing tasks. 

Dextre (center) practices a servicing task 

on RRM (above). 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Goddard Space Flight Center

8800 Greenbelt Road

Greenbelt, MD 20771

www.nasa.gov

NASA Facts

January 2013: In a first-of-its-kind fluid transfer in space, RRM 

confirmed that current-day robotic technology can refuel the 

triple-sealed satellite fuel valves common to orbiting satellites.

Developing RRM

RRM was developed by the Satellite Servicing Capabilities 

Office (SSCO) at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in 

Greenbelt, Md. Veterans of five servicing missions to the 

Hubble Space Telescope, SSCO carried the RRM investigation 

through its rapid 18-month development to its July 2011 launch 

on STS-135, the last space shuttle mission. 

RRM operations are monitored and remotely controlled by flight 

controllers at Goddard, Johnson, Marshall Space Flight Center 

in Huntsville, Ala., and CSA’s control center in St. Hubert, 

Quebec.

For more information, visit:

http://ssco.gsfc.nasa.gov 

www.facebook.com/NASA.Satellite.Servicing 

www.twitter.com/NASA_SatServ

FS-2013-03-017-GSFC

RRM was the last payload to be removed by an astronaut from 

a space shuttle payload bay. 

The WCT snips wire on orbit during March 2012 operations on 

space station.

The RRM Wire Cutter Tool (WCT).