[HN Gopher] Private space-junk probe snaps historic photo of dis...
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Private space-junk probe snaps historic photo of discarded rocket
in orbit
Author : pedrosbmartins
Score : 41 points
Date : 2024-04-27 15:31 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.space.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.space.com)
| karmakaze wrote:
| This reminds me of an old 1979 TV pilot/series "Salvage"[0] about
| a private company reclaiming space junk for resale.
|
| [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvage_1
| detourdog wrote:
| There was also quark.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_(TV_series)
| gsliepen wrote:
| Reminds me of Planetes
| (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetes).
| jessriedel wrote:
| I did some quick Googling and could not figure out what the plan
| is for doing this economically. There are thousands of pieces of
| debris scattered over thousands of orbits, and the fuel cost of
| transfers to many orbits are prohibitive. That's why most of the
| debris-cleanup ideas I was familiar with involved lasers or other
| techniques that don't require the cleanup satellite to match
| orbits with the debris. So what's the strategy here? Just clean
| up a few of the most highly trafficked orbits? Anyone got a link?
| ericol wrote:
| Down the rabbit hole:
|
| This page obtained the image from a tweet (Or an x?) from the
| company, Astroscale, that instead had a link to a page [1] that
| explains:
|
| > The ADRAS-J spacecraft was selected by JAXA for Phase I of
| its Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration (CRD2) program.
| Astroscale Japan is responsible for the design, manufacture,
| test, launch and operations of ADRAS-J.
|
| Image is also available for download [2]
|
| [1] https://astroscale.com/astroscale-unveils-worlds-first-
| image...
|
| [2] https://astroscale.com/resources/#resource-image-1
| jessriedel wrote:
| I read that link previously but it doesn't really answer my
| question (other than pointing out that the cost of developing
| tech for proximity operations can be split with in-orbit
| servicing companies).
| foota wrote:
| I think their goal is to capture large debris before it becomes
| small debris.
| ceejayoz wrote:
| It might be "get military contracts deorbiting someone else's
| not-junk satellites".
| mistrial9 wrote:
| agree plus the proliferation of cube-sats built by
| undergrads,, seems like conflict over this is going to happen
| between nations
| nicklecompte wrote:
| I couldn't get a clear sense either. But their website's focus
| on "orbit servicing" and EOL gives me the impression that this
| is really for proactively managing space debris from recent
| missions, not cleaning up historic debris. Their method makes
| more sense for cleaning dense "packets" of debris whose orbits
| haven't yet significantly deviated from the original mission
| orbit, so the cleanup satellite doesn't have to make too many
| maneuvers.
|
| It still doesn't seem economical or even all that feasible.
| edgineer wrote:
| Maybe new rules like the FCC's 5-year deorbiting requirement
| mean deorbiting-as-a-service can tick that regulatory box.
| Retric wrote:
| There's four things that make this more useful than it might
| first appear. First Ion engines can pack a lot of DeltaV when
| you essentially have zero payload beyond an attachment device.
|
| Next most unguided mass is still in a small number of giant
| objects so we don't need to clean everything just removing the
| biggest objects in the most crowded orbits prevents things from
| getting worse.
|
| You don't need to get junk into a low orbit. A highly
| elliptical one that just touches earth's atmosphere will
| deorbit things eventually. Which then sets up for the next
| intercept as DeltaV as perigee magnifies where your perigee
| ends up. Further the goal is to intercept at a reasonably low
| relative velocity you don't actually need to match each of
| those orbits. (You can also use earth's atmosphere to lower
| your perigee essentially for free so aim for the highest orbit
| first and work down the list.)
|
| Finally you don't need to handle everything with a single
| device. Even just having one in a polar orbit and one in an
| equatorial orbit greatly reduces deltaV requirements.
| xandrius wrote:
| Another problem which will not be considered a problem big enough
| for who is causing it but then which will bite us all in the butt
| in 25-50-100 years and then it is going to become everyone's
| fault.
|
| I'll nickname them as "Anthropogenic Meterorites" (unless they
| already have a name.)
|
| I will also be the one starting the debate that I don't believe
| they are actually man-made, meteorites have been falling forever
| and there is no scientific consensus it's our fault.
| hydrolox wrote:
| Well I think the bigger issue is a "Kessler syndrome" type
| problem than meteorites (i.e space junk hitting the earth),
| although we've already seen issues with the latter..
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(page generated 2024-04-27 23:01 UTC)