The European Space Agency estimates that there are about 129 million pieces of debris in Earth orbit, 34
And, according to experts, the threat of spacegarbage is increasing. We are putting much more material into orbit than before. Humanity has launched at least 10 thousand satellites since the advent of the space era in 1957. Only SpaceX received permission to raise 12 thousand ships only for its constellation of the Internet satellite Starlink and filed an application for approval of the launch of another 30 thousand spacecraft.
A crowded orbital environment increases the risk of collisions. And just a few collisions involving satellites can give rise to huge new accumulations of garbage.
If we don't take action soon, we'll be in jail. We'll be in a prison made of garbage.
Vlad Sitnikov, founder of StartRocket
StartRocket hopes barrel-shapeda 50 kg foam trap will help us not to go to jail. The satellite will squeeze the grill out of the foam as it approaches the clouds of debris, capturing it. Atmospheric resistance will affect the fragments enclosed in the shell, sending them to the Earth’s atmosphere, where they will burn.
StartRocket has already been successful in working with foam, but still needs to refine the formula, said project manager Alexei Fedorov, a chemical engineer.
According to Sitnikov and Fedorov, the creation of a newformula and testing it here on Earth is the company's first big milestone. The second stage, scheduled for 2022, is the launch of a cube that will extrude a test sample into low-Earth orbit. It is necessary to ensure that the foam behaves as intended in the space environment. If the tests are successful, StartRocket will work to create the first functional Foam Debris Catcher, possibly as early as 2023. Development in these early stages was supported by Kaspersky Lab.
Sticky foam technology can also findapplications far beyond Earth's orbit if all goes according to plan. For example, Fedorov and Sitnikov suggest that such material will eventually be used as a cheap and effective building material on Mars.
A foam barrel can be shipped tothe surface of Mars instead of huge metal structures for housing. According to Sitnikov, the device can provide enough foam for a large hemisphere. Astronauts can only use a knife to create their habitat.
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