Lockheed Martin used two CubeSats to successfully perform an on-orbit demonstration of their development of AI algorithms intended to enable space servicing missions. According to the company they have a long term plan to develop servicing vehicles for commercial and government markets which would include things like in-orbit refueling and software upgrades.
From a space cybersecurity perspective, this means satellite infrastructure lifetimes may be significantly prolonged in the future. Once launched, it’s currently not possible to upgrade the level of cyber security on a space based vehicle. This means that legacy infrastructures with older and less regulated cyber defense will be in use much longer than initially intended.
Additionally, Lockheed claims that in the suite of services offered is the ability to push software updates onto both cooperative and uncooperative satellites. The company has publicly released the technical specifications for their docking adapter in the hopes of it being adopted as a standardization for how satellites connect to each other and eventually helping make satellites easier to update on orbit, possibly opening up an entire aftermarket space industry.
This capability is both positive and negative as it may both serve as a way to enhance software based security on legacy systems while simultaneously serving as new attack surface area for potential adversaries.
Original:
Lockheed Martin declares success demonstrating tech for in-orbit satellite servicing