Debris
-
Debris orbiting in high Earth orbit is not being tracked closely enough, according to the results of a new survey, and could pose an unexpected threat to important satellites that provide communication, weather observation and navigation services.
-
A team of ESA scientists has developed a way to use lasers, special telescopes, detectors, and light filters tuned to specific wavelengths to increase contrast with the sky and accurately track space debris even in broad daylight.
-
Space debris is a serious problem that won’t be going away anytime soon, but researchers have put forward a novel way to keep things in check, making a case for charging satellite operators an “orbital-use fee” to reduce the risk of collisions.
-
DirecTV has been granted permission by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to send a damaged communications satellite in danger of exploding due to its severely damaged batteries into an emergency disposal trajectory.
-
ESA has commissioned the world's first mission to recover a piece of space debris in orbit. At the end of November, the Ministerial Council consortium awarded a service contract to a consortium for the ClearSpace-1 mission to launch in 2025.
-
ESA has been forced to reposition its Aeolus satellite to avoid a collision with a member of SpaceX’s Starlink mega constellation.
-
In an effort to reduce the amount of space debris circling the Earth, the World Economic Forum and its partners are working on a Space Sustainability Rating (SSR) that will indicate how well satellite operators and launchers are complying with debris mitigation guidelines.
-
It what seems like a paradox, engineers have been blowing up batteries in hopes of cleaning up space debris. In a series of severe "abuse" tests at the test bunkers of France’s CEA, lithium-ion batteries were tortured to better understand catastrophic battery failures and prevent battery explosions.
-
Space has the prospect of one day getting a bit cleaner as a satellite harpooned a piece of simulated debris in low Earth orbit. The RemoveDEBRIS technology demonstrator deployed a target panel at the end of a boom, then skewered it with a metal harpoon traveling at 20 m/s (44.7 mph, 72 km/h).
-
Dutch artist and designer Daan Roosegaarde has a knack for raising environmental awareness through spectacular and symbolic pieces of art, and his freshly launched Space Waste Lab might be his most impressive installation yet.
-
A team of researchers has come up with plasma beam that can push space debris out of orbit. Mounted on a satellite, the two-way facing beam is produced by a bespoke ion thruster that uses its discharge to decelerate debris so it can burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.
-
Technology designed to clean up space has captured its first bit of simulated space debris in orbit. Part of the RemoveDEBRIS mission, a balloon acted as a target for the RemoveDEBRIS satellite, which fired a weighted net from a range of seven meters (23 ft) and successfully snared the "debris."