By: Rohil Khare
This project is based on Donald Kessler's, Kessler Syndrome theory, which states that as the number of satellites and space debris in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) increases, there is a very high likelihood that a belt of these fragments will eventually form around Earth after several mutual collisions, making space travel difficult. This project intends to develop the infrastructure and equipment that, when scaled up, would be able to slow down objects in low Earth orbit so that they can burn up in the atmosphere more easily. To develop the infrastructure, a mock target satellite in low Earth orbit (LEO) was selected, and a plan for getting the prototype to reach the mock satellite with a projectile was devised. Multiple experiments on modified handbuilt railguns were performed to improve the equipment, and a 3D modelled satellite with the launcher crafted in was developed to show that the design is feasible. The 2 gram projectile was launched at a rate of about 2 meters per second by the small scale railgun, while the improved version launched at about 2.7 meters per second, a 35 percent improvement in productivity, demonstrating that the modified railgun is successful. These values are kept low on purpose because if the projectile reaches the target at a high velocity, the target will be split into smaller parts, leading to the Kessler Syndrome. This prototype also aims to be scaled up to accommodate debris in medium earth and geosynchronous orbits (MEO and GSO).