Tiny Cube Drags Space Debris From Orbit 77
krou writes "A team from Surrey Space Centre has developed a device called a CubeSail, designed to be attached to satellites and rocket stages in order to drag space debris from orbit. CubeSail is a nanosatellite, weighing 3kg (6.6lb), and measures 10cm x 10cm x 30cm. Within its frame is a polymer sheet that unfurls itself once in space. 'The simple deployment mechanism features four metal strips that are wound under tension and will snap into a straight line when let go, pulling the sheet flat in the process.' The overall idea is that 'Residual air molecules still present in the spacecraft's low-Earth orbit will catch the sheet and pull the object out of the sky much faster than is normal.' Sir Martin Sweeting, the chairman of SSTL, who supported the research, said, 'We would be looking to put it on our own satellites and to put it on other people's spacecraft as well. We want this to be a standard, essential bolt-on item for a spacecraft; and that's why it's very important to make it small, because if it's too big it will interfere with the rest of the spacecraft.' The team is also hoping that CubeSail can act as a propulsion system, using 'solar sailing' to help satellites keep their orbits more efficiently."
Re:Should be required (Score:5, Interesting)
It seems to me getting things into space is _really_ expensive. I would be much more impressed with a device that took space debris and dragged it all together. That way it could eventually be recycled in space. Instead of just burning it up.
Re:3 kg? (Score:1, Interesting)
Yup, pretty much. Haven't done satellite design myself, but I know an engineer who tests satellite modules before deployment. The G forces (vibrations) experienced during takeoff are hideously high. As a result, the components need to be both very sturdy and as light as possible (because of cost issues). Since a component that is not sturdy enough to take the vibrations turn into junk in orbit, the designs tend to be on the heavier side of the equation.
He told me he always had a good time when know-it-all freshly-educated hopefuls came in with their first designs, often using unglued electrolytics (this was in 1998), whereupon the would perform his vibration tests and the designers would spend several minutes sweeping his workshop clear of small thingumabobs that had come unstuck.
I assume surface-mount technology has taken much of the pleasure out of that test.
Re:Should be required (Score:2, Interesting)
Theoretically that's a good idea, but then you need a whole industrial complex in space, we're talking smelting, refining, forming, assembling, QA, etc... I don't think there's enough debris up there to make all that worthwhile, and hopefully we will be generating less space debris in the future, not more, so it won't be getting any "better" for your space recycling idea.
Now if we ever really did move to large scale manufacturing in earth orbit, probably based around captured asteroids, then that sort of scheme might be worthwhile, particularly for refining extremely rare materials that may have been used in satellite construction, but that day is really far off.