We're going for LEO reservicing. It's quite a challenging mission, especially since our client was never meant to be reserviced let alone rendezvoused with in the first place.
Interesting project. A lot of the NASA publications keep the identity of the client very vague ("A satellite in LEO owned by the U.S. government" as one brochure puts it), which makes me suspect that it must be something "hush-hush" like NRO. Then I find a press release saying the client is Landsat 7 – https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-s-restore-l-mission-to-ref... – which doesn't sound that "hush-hush" at all.
There was a time when we weren't exactly sure which client we were going to refuel, but as far as we know, it will be Landsat-7. I believe NRL and possibly others are working on reservicing more "hush-hush" clients, but I can't say for certain for that very reason haha.
This could have been done long ago, but it didn't pay. The first orbital docking was over 50 years ago. The booster cost to get to geosync orbit was so high that refueling missions weren't worth it.
This would be a good use of used Space-X boosters. If it succeeds, great, and if it fails, you've only lost a used booster and the refueling rig. It costs a second stage every time, though; you don't get that back.
Is this research group an official European Space Agency (ESA) group? How probable is that they will launch a test mission with this system? How probable is that the European missions will adopt this (or a minor variant)? ISS? NASA? Russia? China? Other?
We're going for LEO reservicing. It's quite a challenging mission, especially since our client was never meant to be reserviced let alone rendezvoused with in the first place.