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Tiny Cube Drags Space Debris From Orbit
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."
Gah!
Am I the only one who read that as "Time Cube Drags Space Debris From Orbit"? Slashdot ows me a new monitor. This one's all covered in coffee now...
Well it's definately a good idea to require something like this on all new satellites, but the major problem of all the existing debris still remains.
I was hoping that the polymer sheet would also slow down existing debris that passed nearby, but with such a thin sheet and such high speeds I doubt there would be any significant effect.
Maybe I'm not getting it, but it seems to me that the article says that the device is unfurled once the satellite reaches orbit, so it starts to decay the orbit immediately? This also seems incompatible with this statement: "The team is also hoping that CubeSail can act as a propulsion system, using 'solar sailing' to help satellites keep their orbits more efficiently."
Seems like a good idea, but I'd think you'd deploy it remotely once the satellite reached end of life?
I still cannot find the droids I am looking for...
invent a bag?
Is this sail really big enough to do any good? Sure, it can drag itself around, and maybe some of the smaller cube-sat type things made by colleges, but is a 25 sq m sail really going to matter much to a full-sized satellite?
Oh, tiny cube. Thank goodness. This is proof that I need more coffee right now.
Someone tell these guys what a cube is.
What a fool believes, he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.
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.
When I was younger, we called this "a parachute".
Ezekiel 23:20
I just watched Transformers last night so I know where this idea came from!
"10cm x 10cm x 30cm"
what a cube !
Your freakin' Windsong, that's what. Enuff already !!
A satellite's lifetime collision risk depends on the volume of space it sweeps out before the cumulative drag adds up to a de-orbit. The sail does not reduce that volume, it just sweeps it out in a shorter time. I guess there is some net benefit, since a collision with the sail will create a smaller debris cloud.
This Weighted Companion Cube will accompany the satellites through space. Aparture Science is sure this will reduce the number of insane satellites in orbit.
find a way to attach this to stuff already up there, to get it out of the way faster.
if they could maneuver when up there and attach on its own, maybe one could send up a bunch of them in one go and have them start cleaning the place.
comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
So funny, was thinking about the rather disturbing state of space-junk in orbit just last week, let myself drift off, to brainstorm. Wound up thinking what-if... NASA gave grants to artists, if they can solve some space issue. Wound up with a drawing of a chute of aerogel-like materials, built to gather up space-junk; which is then shot out into a trajectory to mash into an asteroid out in the belt, WHAM; SLAM; BAM; Walla! You have a great found object space graffiti piece, maybe the first? (later to be visited, if we ever get our collective arses out to the belt)
I'm so tired of this buzzword. Nanotechnology was supposed to be about molecular machines to manufacture things cheaply and fix the human body.
This is a fucking tin can in space. It's about 1/10 the size of Sputnik. It's a decisatellite. It's not "tiny".
STOP CALLING EVERYTHING NANO.
The dimensions are 10mm x 10mm x 30mm. I guess Rectangular Sail doesn't have the same ring to it.
Its not Nano either. That would mean... 10^-9 meters
What if they start putting nano-machines in space, cubed nano machines? It should be called a Deci-Satellite (10^-1). That way the magnitude is accurate (1 decimeter ~ .328 feet)
That actually seems pretty heavy to someone like myself with no aerospace engineering experience. Is this par for the course in satellite design?
It seems to be all the rage on Start Trek. And what about the Earth's gravity? Mama Terra seems to losing her power. Gaia my ass.
But first, the tranya.
when I read your subject line, my first thought was of some geek artist manuvering the existing space junk into specific positions, so that when viewed from earth, it would read:
"If you can read this..."
Or maybe a line drawing of Tux...
Sarris: What you fail to realize, is that with your shields down, my ship will tear through yours like tissue paper!
Jason: Yes. But what you fail to realize is that my ship is dragging MINES!
[End Of Line]
It reminds me of NASA's Nanosail-D
These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
There could be cubes the size of gorillas in there!
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Here
Anything in a low enough orbit low enough that the 'CubeSail' would make a difference, is in an orbit low enough that it's going to come down anyhow.
Something like this would be really great for the industry. If we could cut in half the amount of time it took every satellite to re-enter, the orbital debris problem would quickly get a lot better.
However, the idea proposed by this team seems rather complex, because the polymer sheet is two-dimensional, it requires an active control system to keep the width of the sheet oriented towards the direction of travel. They talked about changing the center of mass and using magnetic torque control systems...all of which could fail over the years it would take to deorbit (after years of sitting dormant during the spacecraft's operational lifetime).
Instead, why not inflate a balloon? There are already large weather-balloon type ones available, and it wouldn't take much gas to inflate it, since the external pressure is zero! Once the balloon is inflated, it would have a orbital cross section that is similar to the polymer sheet, but since the balloon is roughly a sphere, you don't have to worry about controlling it.
The downside to this is that if a balloon gets hit by a micrometeorite, it could pop (I imagine SSTL's polymer sheets wouldn't handle one too well either). Luckily, NASA and others have been working on an inflatable structure that uses gas to inflate, then once it is inflated it hardens so that it no longer relies on the pressure of the air to keep it in place. This would allow for it to be punched full of holes and still keep providing some drag benefit.