The US Air Force has launched a micro-satellite that could lead to an autonomous robotic mechanic that fixes satellites in orbit. The launch is the first of two such technology-demonstration satellites to lift off this week. The 138-kilogram XSS-11 - which stands for Experimental Spacecraft Systems 11 - blasted off at 0635 PDT (1435 GMT) on Monday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, US, aboard a Minotaur rocket. “Nobody’s ever done anything like this in space,” says Vernon Baker, XSS-11 programme manager at the Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, US. He says developing an...