Debris removal test mission to be launched

[RainDreamer]

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jul/04/space-junk-cleanup-mission-remove-debris-prepares-for-launch

Spoiler

Presented at the Royal Society’s summer science exhibition this week, and led by the Surrey Space Centre, the systems included a net, harpoon and drag sail, which scientists have incorporated into a test platform for launch into space. The platform will also carry “artificial junk” in the form of small satellites known as CubeSats.

Once the platform is launched into space, a CubeSat will be released. “The CubeSat will be ejected from the platform and then we’ll fire the net at it,” said Forshaw. The CubeSat, hopefully encased in the net, will then fall back towards Earth and burn up.

In the case of the harpoon, the researchers have attached a target made of spacecraft material to a carbon-fibre boom that extends from the platform. “When the harpoon impacts it, it is actually going to simulate a real spacecraft being hit,” said Forshaw.

So we are going to send some spacecraft up there so they can play tag with eachother to test debris removal tech.

I still wonder why they dont try laser broom or something. Maybe it is not fast enough?

Edited July 5, 2016 by RainDreamer

[EliasDanger]

I'm wondering why they are so concerned with cleaning up space junk while no one seems to be concerned with cleaning up ocean junk. There's an island the size of texas made out of plastic floating around the Pacific no one knows what to do with, but hey, let's spend money on cleaning up space junk. You know...cuz it's not like there isn't a ton of space in space for junk.

[Blaarkies]

13 minutes ago, EliasDanger said:

I'm wondering why they are so concerned with cleaning up space junk while no one seems to be concerned with cleaning up ocean junk. There's an island the size of texas made out of plastic floating around the Pacific no one knows what to do with, but hey, let's spend money on cleaning up space junk. You know...cuz it's not like there isn't a ton of space in space for junk.

...use the space junk, to bombard the ocean junk! 

[insert_name]

31 minutes ago, EliasDanger said:

I'm wondering why they are so concerned with cleaning up space junk while no one seems to be concerned with cleaning up ocean junk. There's an island the size of texas made out of plastic floating around the Pacific no one knows what to do with, but hey, let's spend money on cleaning up space junk. You know...cuz it's not like there isn't a ton of space in space for junk.

The islands of trash is a myth, it is just a cloud of plastic dust

[kerbiloid]

They would launch a pile of sticky tape and watch what sticks.

[RainDreamer]

1 hour ago, EliasDanger said:

I'm wondering why they are so concerned with cleaning up space junk while no one seems to be concerned with cleaning up ocean junk. There's an island the size of texas made out of plastic floating around the Pacific no one knows what to do with, but hey, let's spend money on cleaning up space junk. You know...cuz it's not like there isn't a ton of space in space for junk.

Maybe we should just launch all that trash to spac- wait a min....

[kerbiloid]

A century later an adapted plastic-eating plankton will eat all oceanic plastic and begin to starve without tasty edible plastic bags.
Adapted lobsters will lack polycarbonate for their crust. Rubberfishes will become less elastic.
Adapted sharks will attack everybody in rubbersuit, ignoring naked swimmers.

People will start an evironmental campaign "Save the ocean! Throw a bottle overboard!"

Edited July 5, 2016 by kerbiloid

[Streetwind]

5 hours ago, RainDreamer said:

I still wonder why they dont try laser broom or something. Maybe it is not fast enough?

Because that would be a massive weapon, perhaps? If you want to be able to clean up space junk at higher altitudes than the lowest of orbits, then it needs to be really powerful - and you end up with a laser cannon that can blast active satellites out of orbit at will.

Western media rarely mentions this when western space junk cleanup initiatives are reported on, but these same media outlets are much less lenient when other nations do it. For example, last month, China already launched a technology testbed for space junk cleanup. But instead of reporting on the commendable acceptance of responsibility - China has generated a huge amount of space junk despite having very few satellites - what we got to read in the media was "Concerns about China's continued anti-satellite weapon research" and the like. Because politics.

But the unfortunate truth is that any technology able to deorbit a derelict satellite can also deorbit a live one... against the satellite operator's will. This is going to be a very interesting topic in the coming decade, because pretty much everyone agrees that we need debris cleanup, but the Outer Space Treaty forbids militarization of space, and the relations between the three nations that own 90% of all orbital junk (USA, Russia, China) aren't exactly at their best right now.

Edited July 5, 2016 by Streetwind

[kunok]

8 hours ago, EliasDanger said:

I'm wondering why they are so concerned with cleaning up space junk while no one seems to be concerned with cleaning up ocean junk. There's an island the size of texas made out of plastic floating around the Pacific no one knows what to do with, but hey, let's spend money on cleaning up space junk. You know...cuz it's not like there isn't a ton of space in space for junk.

Is a light "soup" not an island

[cubinator]

Wait, so they're going to deorbit a cubesat by catching it in a net? The net is still in orbit...Does it increase drag and deorbit it after a shorter time?

[Vanamonde]

Whatever the relative degrees of national responsibility might be, trying to argue that point on this forum invariably results in nasty arguments. So please leave politics and nationalities out of the discussion. 

[Motokid600]

On ‎7‎/‎5‎/‎2016 at 1:13 AM, insert_name said:

The islands of trash is a myth, it is just a cloud of plastic dust

That.. is that better? lol.

[Streetwind]

9 hours ago, cubinator said:

Wait, so they're going to deorbit a cubesat by catching it in a net? The net is still in orbit...Does it increase drag and deorbit it after a shorter time?

IIRC there is supposed to be a drag sail attached to the net. So yes, it should drastically shorten the timespan required for orbital decay.

[kerbiloid]

Two cubesats caught by the net.

Spoiler

A space bola

 

One cubesat caught by the net

Spoiler

Relative speed ~ several km/s

Small cube size = 1 mesh

 

Edited July 6, 2016 by kerbiloid

[cubinator]

5 hours ago, Streetwind said:

IIRC there is supposed to be a drag sail attached to the net. So yes, it should drastically shorten the timespan required for orbital decay.

Ok, now that's potentially useful. My one concern would be that it would significantly increase the size of that one small piece of debris during that short time.