Boeing engineers suggest blowing space debris from orbit
According to NASA , more than 21,000 debris over 10 centimeters in size now fly in near-Earth space, about 500,000 from 1 to 10 centimeters and more than 100,000,000 pieces of garbage less than 1 centimeter fly. This orbital dump is an increasing danger to spacecraft. So, one of the pessimistic scenarios of the situation, the so-called Kessler syndrome , uncontrolled chain reaction: the collision of two fairly large objects leads to a sharp increase in the concentration of debris, resulting in the destruction of several more satellites and the number of debris increases exponentially, making near-earth space in general unsuitable for flying.
The increase in the amount of garbage in orbit from 1960 to 2009
Collision with the obolkom just a few centimeters, rushing at a speed of almost 10 kilometers per second, can destroy even a well-protected apparatus. The “armor” covering the vital compartments of satellites and space stations withstands hit of objects only about a centimeter in diameter. To evade larger wreckage, it is necessary to maneuver - for example, the ISS performs an evasion maneuver about once a year.
The main direction in which space debris engineers work is the creation of cleaning satellites that will capture and release debris into the atmosphere or powerful lasers that will burn or slow them down. Boeing offers an elegant and unexpected solution. In their patent describes a method of space cleaning using a cloud of gas sprayed in a certain place near-Earth space at exactly the calculated time. The diameter of the cloud will be from 50 to 500 kilometers. It will last only a few minutes, but this will be enough to slow down the skins into it at a few hundred meters per second, so that they quickly go off the orbit and burn.
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The cloud itself will sink back into the atmosphere, leaving no trace of its existence. Although the mass of gas required for spraying such a cloud is from 1 to 10 tons, launching an apparatus spraying gas to a height of several hundred kilometers will be cheaper than launching a satellite of the same mass, since it does not need to accelerate to the first cosmic velocity. It will be enough for only a few minutes to emerge from the atmosphere.
Blowing debris out of orbit can be a great addition to the satellite cleaner method, which is better suited for large debris. A cloud of gas hinders all debris falling into it, regardless of size.
The increase in the amount of garbage in orbit from 1960 to 2009
Collision with the obolkom just a few centimeters, rushing at a speed of almost 10 kilometers per second, can destroy even a well-protected apparatus. The “armor” covering the vital compartments of satellites and space stations withstands hit of objects only about a centimeter in diameter. To evade larger wreckage, it is necessary to maneuver - for example, the ISS performs an evasion maneuver about once a year.
The main direction in which space debris engineers work is the creation of cleaning satellites that will capture and release debris into the atmosphere or powerful lasers that will burn or slow them down. Boeing offers an elegant and unexpected solution. In their patent describes a method of space cleaning using a cloud of gas sprayed in a certain place near-Earth space at exactly the calculated time. The diameter of the cloud will be from 50 to 500 kilometers. It will last only a few minutes, but this will be enough to slow down the skins into it at a few hundred meters per second, so that they quickly go off the orbit and burn.
')
The cloud itself will sink back into the atmosphere, leaving no trace of its existence. Although the mass of gas required for spraying such a cloud is from 1 to 10 tons, launching an apparatus spraying gas to a height of several hundred kilometers will be cheaper than launching a satellite of the same mass, since it does not need to accelerate to the first cosmic velocity. It will be enough for only a few minutes to emerge from the atmosphere.
Blowing debris out of orbit can be a great addition to the satellite cleaner method, which is better suited for large debris. A cloud of gas hinders all debris falling into it, regardless of size.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/154477/
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