“RemoveDEBRIS” – the space junk hunter

A luggage-sized satellite deployed from the International Space Station (ISS), called RemoveDEBRIS, is endeavouring to capture and make safe space junk using several different experimental techniques

REMOVEDEBRIS SATELLITE CUTAWAY

DebrisSat-1: Space junk simulator
Antennas 
Battery
Harpoon and target assembly
Vision-Based Navigation (VBN)
Net cannon 
Dragsail
Supervision cameras
DebrisSat-2: Space junk simulator
Reaction wheel: Controls orientation
Sun sensor 
Solar panel powercard
65cm


ORBITAL DEBRIS

Defined as any man-made object orbiting Earth which has no function, such as defunct spacecraft, abandoned launch vehicles and fragmentation debris. There are 500,000 pieces of junk, marble-sized or larger, which can travel at speeds of up to 28,000km/h – fast enough for small flecks of paint to damage satellites, spacecraft or even the ISS


FOUR METHODS

Experiment 1: Net Carried out Sep 19, 2018
DebrisSat-1: Launches and inflates balloon to simulate piece of space junk
Net: Fires at target and successfully encloses it

Experiment 2: VBN Nov 2018*
DebrisSat-2: Ejected for use as target for satellite’s cameras
Purpose: Test flight data image processing and navigation algorithms through two cameras
Cameras: LiDAR pulsed laser measuring and regular 2D optics

Experiment 3: Harpoon Jan 2019*
Target: Extends outwards from satellite, ready to be shot by harpoon
Harpoon: Barbs deploy after impact to lock into target
10cm2
1.5m
Velocity: 20m per second

Experiment 4: Dragsail Mar 2019*
De-orbit: When deployed, dragsail accelerates rate of decline of satellite so it re-enters atmosphere far sooner than it would without it – in this case by around 11 months
Method could be used by future space junk hunters to dispose of debris
Dragsail
Harpoon aparatus partly retracts so it does not get in way of dragsail boom



Sources: BBC, University of Surrey, ESA, Airbus, NASA Pictures: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/JSC, ESA        *Approximate date
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