https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2024/03/01/nasa-cancels-osam-satellite-refuel-project/8751709328434/

@nyrath well that sucks. It's such a good concept.

@swope @nyrath Well, it'd be better to design satellites with the capability for refueling from the start. Ideally, get together a single standard, so a refueling infrastructure is possible.

I mean, imagine today's gasoline automobile infrastructure if everyone had to partially dismantle their vehicle and use custom pump nozzle adapters to refuel every time. That's nonsense, right?

@isaackuo @swope

Yes but as you know establishing a standard is a savage brutal process nowadays. The corporations agree that standards are needed, but the corps want their solution adopted by everyone else. VHS vs Betamax et al.

@isaackuo @swope

Work appears to have stalled on the Universal Space Interface Standard. The last news I heard about that was 2014.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Space_Interface_Standard

@nyrath @isaackuo "universal" feels especially bold when you are exploring the universe.

@swope @nyrath Our civilization is the one which came up with "Universal" Serial Bus ... A ... B ... C ... mini-B ... micro ... USB3 ...

@isaackuo @swope

About 20 years ago I had a thick book full of hundreds of variations of the RS-232 "standard". A real standard would have zero variations.