ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 15 -- United States Patent no. 12,600,496, issued on April 14.
"System and method for a spacecraft docking station" was invented by Thomas F. Yost (Chesapeake Beach, Md.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A spacecraft docking station is adapted to facilitate docking of spacecraft within outer space. According to one example, a spacecraft docking station may include a frame enclosing an area, and a net-like mesh coupled to the frame and filling the area enclosed by the frame. An autonomous robot may be coupled to the net-like mesh. One or more vessels may be coupled to the frame and/or the net-like mesh, where the one or more vessels include a propulsion mechanism. Other asp...