You know we're living in the future when you see things like Orbital Express being launched. It's a pair of robots designed to find, dock with and repair satellites in orbit, replacing faulty parts, refueling spent containers, and generally helping the sky birds to stay flying for a few more years. It's funded by the U.S. military and NASA, and its initial goal is to help extend the lives of expensive spy satellites. If it works though, I wouldn't be surprised to see these things tackling commercial jobs as well.

The version of Orbital Express launched in early March is a prototype designed to try out many of the system's technologies.