[TheKost]

I tend to think NASA is putting it's energy & money into getting shuttles back into space safely. Hubble isn't going anywhere. They can always service Hubble after they fix the shuttle program.

[Jambe]

15+ years ago, TRW (and perhaps others) were developing a remote controlled orbital "service shuttle pod" (my term) or "tug" that would be used to place and retrived satellites in various earth orbits.

The pod could be used to go out where many communication satellites orbit (22,000), latch onto the desired satellite and bring it back down to low Earth orbit. Once there, it could be serviced/updated and/or refueled (by shuttle crews) and returned to it's original orbit using the "service pod".

The "service pod" would be refueled and await it's next assignment.

Given the original cost to build and launch a satellite, plus the fact that the original electronics are lasting many years longer than originally expected, why hasn't a shuttle tug been developed? If it has, what's it current status?

Other than safety issues related to the ISS, why couldn't a tug be used to go out, retrieve "other" orbiting satellites, bring them back to the ISS area for service and then returned back to their orbital slot?

What happened to the TRW project? Anyone?