The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ( DARPA ) is being sued by aerospace manufacturer Orbital ATK over its plans to award a Canadian company a $ 100 m contract so it can put together a fleet of space robots that will be capable of repairing satellites , promising large savings from needing to launch fewer satellites to replace faulty ones . Orbital claims that Darpa 's robotic demonstration of geosynchronous satellite navigation would be in direct competition with its own privately funded plan , Mission Extension Vehicle 1 . Orbital is alleging the contract violates federal policy against creating government space programmes in competition with existing commercial ones .
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is being sued by aerospace manufacturer Orbital ATK over its plans to give a Canadian company a $15m contract so it can put together a fleet of space robots that will be capable of repairing satellites, promising large savings from needing to launch fewer satellites to replace faulty ones. Orbital claims that Darpa's robotic servicing of geosynchronous satellite technology would be in direct competition with its own privately funded plan, Mission Extension Vehicle 1. Orbital is alleging the contract violates federal policy against creating government space programmes in competition with existing commercial ones.