Special Aerospace Services, the leader in spaceflight engineering and hardware solutions for the aerospace industry, has been awarded a Space Act Agreement (SAA) by NASA to develop a commercial version of an Autonomous Maneuvering Unit (AMU) to be used in civil, commercial, and national security missions. Awarded under the second Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities (CCSC-2) initiative, the AMU system will allow safer assembly of commercial LEO (low Earth orbit) space stations, servicing, retrieval, and inspection of in-space systems.

"This agreement is critical in providing expertise, historical data, lessons learned, and access to NASA personnel in order for SAS to accelerate our commercial development of the AMU technology," said Special Aerospace Services Chief Technical Officer & Co-Founder Tim Bulk.

SAS has spent the last three years investing in in-space servicing technology, propulsion, and robotic technology, specifically in the prototype development of the AMU and the Astronaut Assist-AMU for commercial in-space servicing and mobility applications.

"SAS' AMU technology will rapidly advance commercial space-related efforts," said Special Aerospace Services President and Chief Executive Officer Heather Bulk. "We look forward to this partnership and long-term collaboration with NASA."

Source:specialaerospaceservices.com