Russian scientists have figured out how to easily remove space debris from Earth's orbit

Russian scientists have proposed clearing the Earth's low-Earth orbit using a spacecraft. On

its board has special modules withengines. These modules will attach to space debris objects and push them away. As for geostationary orbit, the preferred way to clear it would be to tow a spacecraft, scientists say. Its task is to transport space debris objects to the “destruction orbit” (600 km altitude, where objects are gradually destroyed from braking into the atmosphere).

Let us remind you that geostationary orbit(GSO) is a circular orbit located above the Earth’s equator (0° latitude), while in which an artificial satellite orbits the planet with an angular velocity equal to the angular velocity of the Earth’s rotation around its axis.

In addition to satellites and the International Spacestations, thousands of failed devices, accelerators and other objects of space debris move in different orbits around the Earth. The more debris left in space, the greater the risk that it will damage satellites, leaving people without communication and surveillance systems. Professor Andrei Baranov from RUDN University together with his colleagues from MSTU im. N.E.Bauman - Dmitry Grishko and Grigory Shcheglov - studied the parameters of space debris in different orbits and came up with the most probable ways of its disposal.

Spaceship Assembly Proposedteam for cleaning near-earth orbits, has a length of 11.5 m, a diameter of 3 m and a weight of just over 4 tons. Such a manifold can carry from 8 to 12 modules with engines on board. Moving the stages of a light ship will require from 50 to 70 kg of fuel, for transportation of the Zenit-2 stage weighing 9 tons - about 350. The total weight of such an assembler at the start will be from 8 to 12 tons. Modern accelerators can easily launch such a load into any orbit up to 1000 km high. After the collector runs out of modules, it will join the last stage of the booster, move with it to the upper atmosphere and burn.

Courtesy: RUDN University.

As for the geostationary orbit, then forIts cleanup team proposed a spacecraft about 3.4 m long, 2.1 m wide and weighing about 2 tons. According to scientists’ calculations, when loading modules, such a device would not be very effective, and 3-4 times more collectors would be required to clear the orbit. Consequently, in this case, the collection spacecraft should work as a tug for space debris objects. According to preliminary calculations, it can operate for up to 15 years and place from 40 to 45 objects into the “destruction orbit.”

"Creation of a spacecraft-collector forlow orbits is a more complex task than creating a spacecraft for geostationary orbit. In the best case scenario, one aircraft will only be able to move 8-12 objects from lower orbits, whereas in geostationary orbit it will be able to transport 40 to 45 . Consequently, cleaning lower orbits is much more difficult. This factor should be taken into account by enterprises and space agencies that plan to launch groups of hundreds or thousands of satellites in this region of near-Earth space,” concludes Professor Baranov.

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