Brit's to sail Space junk out of Orbit by tiny SSTL CubeSail
Post date: Mar 27, 2010 6:31:17 AM
source: news.bbc.co.uk
SSTL, the world-leading small-satellite manufacturer
"We would be looking to put it on our own satellites and to put it on other people's spacecraft as well," said Sir Martin Sweeting, the chairman of SSTL, the world-leading small-satellite manufacturer, which is supporting the research.
UK researchers have developed a device to drag space debris out of orbit.
They plan to launch a demonstration of their "CubeSail" next year. It is a small satellite cube that deploys a thin, 25-sq-m plastic sheet.
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.
The Surrey Space Centre team says the concept could be fitted to larger satellites and even rocket stages.
The group also envisages that a mature system would even be sent to rendezvous and dock with redundant spacecraft to clean them from orbit.
This "solar sailing" technique
has long been touted as a means of moving spacecraft around the Solar System, or just helping conventional satellites to maintain their orbits more efficiently.
Once its mission is complete, CubeSail will be instructed to take itself out of orbit.The project is a private venture within the Surrey Space Centre, which is based at the University of Surrey, Guildford. It has been funded by Europe's largest space company, EADS Astrium,
Once its mission is complete, CubeSail will be instructed to take itself out of orbit.
The entire cost of the project $1.5m
