Cleaning Up Space Junk with Magnets in Space!
looorg writes:
Cleaning up space junk with magnets in space!
Prototype mission. It might run into a bit of an issue since a lot of satellites (if not all) tend to be made of things that are not magnetic -- future solution is apparently to attach a magnetic plate to your satellites so this janitor (or recycling-) satellite can attract them and clean them up.
They really missed out tho -- they should just have named it Roger Wilco
Satellite that can clean up space junk with a magnet about to launch:
A satellite is about to demonstrate a new way of capturing space junk with magnets for the first time. With the frequency of space launches dramatically increasing in recent years, the potential for a disastrous collision above Earth is continually growing. Now, Japanese orbital clean-up company Astroscale is testing a potential solution.
The firm's End-of-Life Services by Astroscale demonstration mission is scheduled to lift off on 20 March aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. It consists of two spacecraft: a small client" satellite and a larger servicer" satellite, or chaser". The smaller satellite is equipped with a magnetic plate which allows the chaser to dock with it.
The two stacked spacecraft will perform three tests once in orbit, each of which will involve the servicer satellite releasing and then recapturing the client satellite. The first test will be the simplest, with the client satellite drifting a short distance away and then being recaptured. In the second test, the servicer satellite will set the client satellite tumbling before catching up with it and matching its motion to grab it.
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