2024-04-19 05:28:39
After pollution on Earth, we are now interested in pollution in space. A space garbage truck of some sort is currently trying to collect trash in orbit.
Published 19/04/2024 07:28
Updated 19/04/2024 07:31
Reading time: 2 min
The rocket carrying the Astroscale commercial debris removal demonstration satellite “ADRAS-J” lifts off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula, February 19, 2024. (HANDOUT / ASTROSCALE /RACKETTLAB / ASTROSCAL)
It exists in space a real landfill consisting of pieces of rockets, abandoned or destroyed satellites, as well as debris from failed missions. In all, it is estimated that there are more than 30,000 large objects in orbit, with only 4,000 useful ones still providing some service.
For this reason, the Japanese space agency has been testing a space cleaning mission since mid-February. The ADRAS-J mission. It happens over our heads. Their garbage truck is currently trying to cling to a remnant of a rocket, which has been orbiting since 2009. It must then bring it down gently, sending it disintegrating in the atmosphere.
For now, it’s just testing the procedure. But ultimately, the goal is clearly to create a kind of “space garbage collector service” that anyone can call. With falling track costs and mega constellations like those to Starlink or from OneWeb, those who make it possible to have internet everywhere in the world, the waste in space will only pile up. Problematic because they travel at nearly 30,000 km/h, or 30 times the speed of a bullet. Imagine the damage if we were to hit one.
The necessary development
So far there have not been many accidents, only about ten. But a Chinese satellite has already been completely destroyed by debris. If there are no more collisions, it is simply because the operators spend their time monitoring the sky to move their satellites. A technique that has its limitations. Space organizations must now maintain control of their satellites as they reach the end of their lives. Either to send them to disintegrate in the atmosphere, or to make them fall back to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, in what is already called the satellite graveyard, but there can always be breakdowns or misfires. So it’s rather a good thing that they can be taken care of by space garbage collectors.
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