| Orbital Automation | |
|---|---|
 Secondary technology of Tier N/A | |
| Science | 3216 
|
| Requires | N/A |
| Leads to | None |
| Affinity |
None |
| Buildings enabled | None |
| Improvements enabled | None |
| Satellites enabled | N/A |
| Units enabled | N/A |
| Notes |
Allows the Deep Space Telescope and the Planet Carver orbital units. |
- "The trend towards automation speaks to our nature. We create that which may persist without us -- In this we are strong. We depend on that which requires nothing of us in return -- In this we are flawed."
- Vadim Kozlov, Axioms from the Minutes of the Central Directorate
History[]
By the Great Mistake, most of the satellite operations in orbit were automated: launch, rendezvous, proximity and station keeping, docking, fluid and ORU transfer. Many of the construction satellites placed in orbit during the building of the interstellar spacecraft were fully robotic, and the colonial databases carried the plans and programming needed to duplicate these. With the advances in quantum computing, autonomous robotics and telecommunications, colonial astro-engineers were able to design and launch a vast array of orbital platforms that could operate independent of human oversight; indeed, in some cases these satellites were made resistant to indirect control of any type for security purposes. The research in orbital automation was viewed by many as an essential step to a return to interstellar travel.