A closer look
When a multi-million-dollar satellite runs out of fuel in orbit, it usually becomes very expensive space junk. Northrop Grumman solved this by deploying orbital tow trucks. Their Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV-1) autonomously chased down a massive, 19-year-old dying Intelsat satellite hurtling through space at roughly 7,000 miles per hour. It physically grappled the old hardware and locked onto its defunct thruster nozzle, effectively permanently attaching itself as a brand new jet engine to keep the aging satellite broadcasting for another five years.
