Roscosmos plans to build a device for cleaning the orbit of space debris

Over the past few weeks, Roskosmos has shown unprecedented activity: there is already a plan to create an orbital lunar base, a project to create elements and equipment for a surface lunar base, a project to create a lunar rover and even a project to mine minerals on the Moon.

Now there is another project to create a space scavenger - an apparatus capable of clearing the orbit of the Earth from space debris, or at least part of it.
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Such a device is planned to be created in 2016-2025, and the practical implementation of the project will begin in 2018, and in 2025 the ship will be tested. The name of the ship was very indicative - "Liquidator".

According to the plan, the mass of the “Liquidator” will be about 4 tons, and in one working cycle it will be possible to remove up to ten inactive satellites as well as the upper stages. By the time the cycle will last no more than 6 months. In total, such a device will be used for about 10 years.

“The task of creating such an apparatus is supercomplex. Contractor not defined. I believe that the projects of several manufacturers with experience in creating and operating spacecraft in geostationary orbit will be considered. These are RSC Energia, Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, Lavochkin Scientific Production Association, Reshetnev ISC. It can be assumed that those companies that have wider experience of convergence and docking in orbit will have some advantage, since these technologies will be in demand here, ”said Alexander Danilyuk, First Deputy Director General of TsNIImash.

It should be noted that most of the debris is in low orbits, up to 2 thousand kilometers. True, the “Liquidator”, according to the plan, should start work from an orbit of 36 thousand kilometers (geostationary orbit), which is considered to be the most commercially interesting. It is planned to use two possible options: either transfer debris to a higher orbit, where all this will not interfere with the current work of other satellites, or push debris from orbit so that it sooner or later enter Earth’s atmosphere and fall near Christmas Island (there send most of the spacecraft being re-orbited).

For the implementation of such a project, Roscosmos is requesting 10.8 billion rubles. So far, of all the plans of Roscosmos, the most expensive is the plan to create an ultra-modern national satellite constellation (350 billion rubles) and the creation of a super-heavy launch vehicle (214.6 billion rubles).

Via izvestia