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On September 12, Skycorp Incorporated announced a new service to remove end of life geostationary satellites into graveyard orbits. The service, called SELTS for Spacecraft End of Life Service, is still some years off: construction of the SELTS spacecraft won’t begin until Skycorp receives ten reservations for the service. As Spaceref reports:

The SELTS accomplishes this by mechanically docking with a GEO satellite. The docking mechanism is a simple mechanical interface, similar to a tug guiding a larger ship at sea. A Xenon fueled solar electric propulsion system then transfers the satellite to the graveyard orbit 300 km above GEO. Skycorp founder and CEO Dennis Wingo states; “The SELTS design provides up to fifteen graveyard transfers over a three year operating life. The design has matured and we can now provide firm fixed pricing for our services”

Pricing for the service ranges from $5.85 to 7.85 million.

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Merryl Azriel

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Having wandered into professional writing and editing after a decade in engineering, science, and management, Merryl now enjoys reintegrating the dichotomy by bringing space technology and policy within reach of an interested public. After three years as Space Safety Magazine’s Managing Editor, Merryl semi-retired to Visiting Contributor and manager of the campaign to bring the International Space Station collaboration to the attention of the Nobel Peace Prize committee. She keeps her pencil sharp as Proposal Manager for U.S. government contractor CSRA.

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