For Space Junk Cleanup, DragRacer Satellite Will Test 'Terminator Tape' This Fall (space.com) 26
schwit1 quotes Space.com: An experimental mission to test tether-based orbital debris cleanup methods with "Terminator Tape" is slated to launch this fall to test the deorbit performance of two satellites.
The Millennium Space Systems mission, called DragRacer, involves two small satellites that are set to launch simultaneously to low Earth orbit (LEO) to measure how fast satellites fall out of space. The goal, the company said, is to study technologies for removing space debris from orbit.
One of the satellites will fall from orbit on its own. The second satellite, meanwhile, will use an onboard tether made of Terminator Tape that's designed to speed up reentry and deorbit the craft.
The Millennium Space Systems mission, called DragRacer, involves two small satellites that are set to launch simultaneously to low Earth orbit (LEO) to measure how fast satellites fall out of space. The goal, the company said, is to study technologies for removing space debris from orbit.
One of the satellites will fall from orbit on its own. The second satellite, meanwhile, will use an onboard tether made of Terminator Tape that's designed to speed up reentry and deorbit the craft.
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Yep, it's all smiles and giggles until the tape breaks off and wraps itself around the ISS.
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We need only look to Matt Groening for answers. Much like how he predicted Trump would one day be president, he may have predicted and solved this very problem in Futurama. All we really need to do is make another ball of space-garbage, the exact size and density, and launch it into the first space-garbage ball. By the time both balls eventually come close to earth, it'll be for another generation to sort out. =)
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But this is like the reverse of Kessler Syndrome. So this is a good thing?
Re:Progress (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess we have managed to clean up the oceans from plastics and other garbage, so naturally it's time to move onto catching space junk.
I guess we have managed to clean up the streets and fields from paper cups, cigarette butts and other garbage, so naturally it's time to move on to cleaning the ocean.
I guess we have managed to clean up the atmosphere from exhaust fumes and industrial waste, so naturally it's time to move on to picking up litter.
I know you mean well, but there are more than one human on the planet. We can do more than one thing at a time. Efforts to clean the space lanes don't necessarily take away from meaningful efforts to clean other places.
Re: Progress (Score:2)
So true. And one lesson we are still learning is the importance of thinking about solutions to problems we don't yet have.
When an apocaliiptic asteroid is detected in crash course with earth, it's probably too late to start asking those questions.
If we had thought about and taken seriously things like ocean and air polution, we probably wouldent be in this same position today.
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the importance of thinking about solutions to problems we don't yet have.
Oh, we think about them all right, the Kessler Syndrome was first described in the 1970s. We're just not good about budgeting to deal with the issue today when it's easier and more profitable in the short run to defer it into the indefinite future. We as a society need to start thinking in terms of the entire product lifecycle rather than just initial profitability, but I haven't seen much sign of that happening yet.
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How does it work? (Score:2)
Does it synergize the excellences or is there some physics that might explain the idea?
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This is a good primer on the physics of tethers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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And the press kit for 'Terminator Tape'.
https://www.tethers.com/deorbi... [tethers.com]
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I guess we have managed to clean up the oceans from plastics and other garbage, so naturally it's time to move onto catching space junk.
Or we can do it in parallel - more efficient!
I need your clothes your boots and your motorcycle (Score:1)
Seems a waste! (Score:1)
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A parking orbit is a higher orbit. You need fuel to send stuff up there. And then it's just a hazard while it's waiting to be recycled. Meanwhile the stuff down lower can be deorbited with just a chunk of rope to increase drag. That's a lot easier and cheaper than boosting it.
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An electrodynamic tether can also be used to increase the orbit, they have been proposed for station keeping for the ISS.
I think we're a long way from being able to recycle electronic junk in orbit, unless it's just used as mass for a counterweight.
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Meanwhile the stuff down lower can be deorbited with just a chunk of rope to increase drag. That's a lot easier and cheaper than boosting it.
God plan ... right up until the moment the rope lands on a child (or other small mammal) at terminal velocity.
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You need less fuel to send stuff to a graveyard orbit from geostationary than you need to de-orbit it entirely. Space is odd like that.
This is for LEO though. It's much easier to bring things down from LEO. You can just wait for it to happen, but that's rather slow.
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Fascination with "energy" cost in space bespeaks a lack of understanding of any of the costs of, and obstacles to, space travel.
The energy cost of putting something into orbit via SpaceX is about the same as air freighting something from the U.S. to India. The cost of "doing stuff" in space is almost entirely the cost of the flight hardware, which is why SpaceX is slashing the cost of launching - they are actually less efficient in energy use on launch, but the vehicle is reusable. Operations costs are most
Streamer Recovery (Score:4, Interesting)
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Dang, now I'm disappointed with my old model rockets - they never got anywhere near having to worry about de-orbiting techniques at Mach 25.
Title had me going (Score:2)
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