Posted: Sat, Mar 9, 2024, 9:17 AM ET (1417 GMT)
NASA is canceling a $2 billion satellite servicing technology demonstration mission because of cost and schedule overruns. NASA announced March 1 that it plans to terminate the On-Orbit Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing (OSAM) 1 mission, which was to attempt to refuel the Landsat 7 spacecraft and perform a test of assembling an antenna structure in orbit. NASA said it was ending OSAM-1 because of "continued technical, cost, and schedule challenges" as well as a move by industry away from approaches that involved refueling "unprepared" spacecraft. OSAM-1 had a cost of $2.06 billion and was scheduled to launch in late 2026, but a review last fall by NASA's inspector general concluded it was likely to miss those targets. That review noted poor performance by Maxar, which was supplying the OSAM-1 bus and robotics system. NASA said the approximately 450 people at the Goddard Space Flight Center who had been working on OSAM-1 will be supported through the end of the fiscal year.

Related Links:

•  SpaceNews article
•  Reuters article
•  NASA statement