January 19, 2014 - SPACE - Japan's space agency is subcontracting a fishing net company to develop a
technology to clean up the space junk that poses a direct threat to
Earth's communication networks. The mission is planned for 2019, with
first tests scheduled for this February.
Japan To Test "Magnetic Net" To Sweep Up Space Debris
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Exaggerated artistic impression of space junk around planet Earth. Currently experts estimate there are 100 million bits
of junk floating around the Earth. 22,000 of those pieces of space debris are believed to measure 10 cm or longer |
Tokyo's Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Nitto Seimo Co, a
company with almost a century-long experience in fishing net
manufacturing, have already developed a space net measuring 1 kilometer
long and 30cm wide in a bid to clear Earth's orbit from some 100 million
pieces of man-made junk.
Made of three strong and flexible
lengths of metal fiber, the net is scheduled to be first tested in orbit
in February. During the first phase a satellite will unreal a wire net
of some 300 meters long that will use a specially generated magnetic
field to reel-in the debris just above our atmosphere.
"We
started work on this project about five years ago and we are all excited
to see the outcome of this first test," Koji Ozaki, the engineer who
heads the development team at Hiroshima-based Nitto Seimo, told the
South China Morning Post.
The test is planned to last for about a
year after which the net be pulled down by Earth's gravity,
incinerating the junk once the net enters the atmosphere.
The
company hopes that their know-how will be able to complete the first
part of the clean-up mission. The aim is to tackle the hazardous problem
of debris damaging space satellites and spacecraft.
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Space debris are potentially threatening to satellites and the International Space Station. Most of the
debris is made up of discarded parts of degrading satellites and old rockets |
"Fishing
nets need to be extremely strong because they need to be able to hold a
large number of fish, but our tether does not have to be that strong,"
Ozaki said. "It is more important that it is flexible."
If the mission is successful, Jaxa is planning further trials next year with a complete system deployment as early as 2019.
The majority of the 100 million pieces of human-made debris are
orbiting some 700 to 1,000 kilometers above the planet's surface. Most
of them are comprised of small particles but around 22,000 measuring 10
cm or more are believed to be hazardous and pose a direct threat to
satellites and spacecraft.
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In late February, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is teaming up with a fishing equipment company
to test out an unusual approach to fighting space junk: a satellite equipped with a 300-meter magnetic net that
will sweep up the man-made debris hovering in low-Earth orbit. The net is only 30 cm wide when unspooled,
and it is composed of a highly flexible metal fiber. When the net is launched into space, it will
use a magnetic field to attract pieces of orbiting debris |
The debris is made up of space
exploration leftovers including spanners, nuts, bolts, gloves and shards
of space craft. Experts believe that global positioning systems,
international phone connections, television signals and weather
forecasts could be affected by ever increasing levels of space junk.
In order to protect the International Space Station from the fields of
space debris, over 100 special anti-impact shields, the Whipple Bumpers,
have been installed to tackle threat from objects whose velocities
range between 3 and 18 kilometers per second. In addition, the orbital
paths of spacecraft going to and returning from the ISS are constantly
monitored for debris. -
Space Daily.
ISS Delays Planned Orbit Raise Due To Space Junk Threat
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| International Space Station (Reuters / NASA / Handout via Reuters) |
The International Space Station’s manoeuvre to raise orbit has been
delayed by two days over the threat of collision with space junk that
could severely damage the station.
The ISS orbit was scheduled to be raised by nearly two kilometers to ensure safe docking of the Russian Progress M-22M resupply spacecraft on February 6. The manoeuvre was to be carried out to compensate for Earth’s gravity. The delay was the initiative of the United States.
The new date and time of the manoeuvre will be announced on Friday, while the preliminary date has been set for January 18, according to Moscow mission control center.
More than 800 pieces of space debris are situated on the same orbit with the ISS and are a potential threat to the station, according to NASA’s data from October.
When the ISS faces the threat of a collision with a piece of space junk, the US, Russia and their partners usually order a debris avoidance manoeuvre. This occurs about once a year on average, according to NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office.
The ISS is heavily shielded, as critical components, such as habitable compartments and high pressure tanks, are able to withstand the impact of debris as large as 1 cm in diameter. However anything larger than a baseball poses a potentially catastrophic threat to the ISS, according to NASA estimates.
More than 100 different shields have been designed to protect the various critical components of the ISS, according to a ‘Protecting the Space Station from Meteoroids and Orbital Debris’ report. One of these is the Whipple bumper that breaks up, melts or vaporizes a high-velocity object on impact. Then the slower and smaller remnants spread the remaining energy of the impact over a larger area.
Orbital debris is “all man-made objects in orbit about the Earth which no longer serve a useful purpose,” as NASA defines them. These are derelict spacecraft, abandoned space launch vehicle stages, mission-related debris, and fragments created as a result of explosions or collisions.
One of the two main sources of the debris circling Earth was the intentional destruction of the Fengyun-1C weather satellite by China in 2007 and the accidental collision of American and Russian communications satellites in 2009, according to NASA. They now represent one-third of all catalogued orbital debris.
Last week, NASA announced that it achieved financial support to prolong the ISS’s work until 2024. It will cost the US about $3 billion per year.
The ISS was created in 1998 with the participation of the US, Russia, Japan, Canada, and the European Union. About $160 billion has been spent on the project to date. -
RT.
