v2 Chapter 905： [Serial treatment plan for space junk]

"Global Monopoly of Technology (

When Luo Sheng browsed the global news of the day, he was attracted by a piece of news. When he clicked to see the content, he couldn't help but smile. He said to himself: "Oh, Zheng Tao's execution is very powerful. I like such subordinates. "

In fact, Luo Sheng can access it through the internal information system of Star Arrow International. He has the highest overall authority, but he did not do so, but directly read the news reports.

The news just came out. The Space Center of the University of Surrey in the UK announced that it has formally reached an in-depth cooperation with Star Arrow International. The latter has invested 22 million euros to support the new space garbage trap Remove-Debris led by the University of Surrey Space Center. It will be sent to low-Earth orbit for testing in space this year.

According to the plan, after introducing the new partner of Star Arrow International, this type of space junk trap project will take Star Arrow International’s recyclable rocket to the "Tiangong 2" space station in April this year, and then eject to the designated Experiment with space coordinates.

As mankind’s space exploration activities become more frequent and fierce, the ensuing space orbit debris has become a problem that has to be faced, and the problem will become more and more prominent as human space activities become more frequent. .

It can be seen that for those who are interested in making a big splash in the aerospace field, providing solutions for the disposal of orbital space junk is a field with broad prospects for commercial applications in the future.

The ladder project is extremely vast. The "Forerunner 1" in the high-altitude orbit is not a big problem, but the "Forerunner 2" in the low-altitude orbit is different. The large size also directly or indirectly leads to more prominent space security problems.

Space junk has to be dealt with.

At present, there are about half a million pieces of space debris floating near the earth, of which more than 20,000 pieces of debris greater than ten centimeters in diameter are in the orbit of the earth.

Most of these debris originated from abandoned satellites and rockets launched over the past seventy years.

Since the launch of the first artificial satellite by mankind, various countries have launched more than 5,000 satellites, rockets, probes and other spacecraft, and at the same time more than 3,000 tons of space junk orbiting the earth have been formed.

Moreover, this number is increasing at a rate of 5% every year. It is obvious that in the context of the era of humans’ trend towards deep space, who can provide solutions to these new problems will inevitably bring rich returns, so more and more People in Vietnam have a keen interest in dealing with space junk.

In the past few decades, in order to clean up space junk, some plans have gradually taken shape, and the Remove-Debris space junk trap is one of them.

The project was established as early as 2013. It was researched and developed by the European Union Committee. The purpose is to remove the space junk generated by humans in space activities for more than half a century and create a safe space environment for active spacecraft. .

However, the progress of this project is actually not fast, or even slow. There were two twists and turns in the middle of the project and it almost ran aground indefinitely.

The reason is one word: money!

Two words: no money!

Europe is really out of money. After the conflict between the Eurozone and Britain, the future of this project has become worrying.

Not to mention that the British Space Agency is going to increase its budget for space exploration. European people whose welfare benefits have been affected are all angering that this is a waste of money to do meaningless things, and it is also demanding cuts in funding.

As for the British Space Agency’s annual budget of less than 300 million pounds, the Remove-Debris project wants to advance steadily and can only seek more international cooperation.

In the past few years, in addition to the Surrey Space Center, the subsequent participants in the project have successively cooperated with scientific research institutions such as Stellenbosch University in South Africa, and ten aerospace companies such as Airbus.

Now it has introduced a new partner, Star Arrow International.

However, Star Arrow International is not just giving money to people who are stupid and rich, but to be deeply involved and have the right to speak. The so-called international space cooperation money like more than 20 years ago allowed Chinese people to pay, but not China. The fact that Chinese people are exposed to core technologies does not exist in the contemporary era.

At least here is absolutely impossible for Luo Sheng.

Times have changed.

Now it is the Surrey Space Center who takes the initiative to ask for Star Arrow International, not only because of lack of money, but also because Star Arrow International’s “Ladder Project” is a potential super customer for countless astronauts in the future.

In fact, the Remove-Debris space junk trap was manufactured two years ago, but due to lack of funds, it was delayed to be sent to space for testing. There was no real experimental data analysis, and it was completely brain-filled. According to theoretical calculations, there is no progress in the next research.

The mass of the instrument is about 100 kilograms, and from the appearance it is a cube about 0.75 meters square. In addition to two small satellites for simulating garbage, it is also equipped with a robotic arm for garbage collection and a towing tractor. Sails and equipment like harpoons and fishing nets, together with external camera arrays, lidar and other sensors, can verify the feasibility of garbage recycling in space.

The cooperation between Star Arrow International and the Surrey Space Center also has a clear plan, but there is no detailed information on this in the news report, and neither party has disclosed more details for the time being, but it will definitely be announced later.

Luo Sheng closed the news page and asked: "Xiaona, what are the plans for Remove-Debris?"

Xiaona responded: "After launching Remove-Debris to a predetermined orbit, 4 test missions will be carried out. In the first test, Remove-Debris will release a small satellite, after it flies to a position about seven meters away. Then launch the capture net at it."

"The second test will release a second small satellite, which will be used as a target to test lidar and navigation systems."

"In the third test, Remove-Debris deployed the 5.15-meter-long robotic arm, and UU Reading launched the harpoon toward the 0.01-meter-square-meter target at the top of the robotic arm."

"In the fourth test, the towing tug will drag the entire trap and the captured objects to the earth, and eventually burn out in the atmosphere."

Hearing this, Luo Sheng could not help but drag his chin with one hand into a state of thinking, muttering to himself: "The solution provided by the Remove-Debris space junk trap can only be valuable for the larger and smaller space junk. Fragmentation is obviously not good."

From the perspective of the Remove-Debris test process, the cost of this solution is not low, and it is good to deal with larger space debris debris. If it is small, using this solution is just like an anti-aircraft cannon hitting mosquitoes, not cost-effective.

Luo Sheng said: "Xiaona, have you recruited any providers of space debris disposal solutions less than 10 cm?"

Five to six hundred thousand fast debris in space orbit fly everywhere, among which there are more than 20,000 pieces with a diameter of more than 10 cm. These large pieces of debris can be processed by the Remove-Debris space garbage trap, but the remaining few One hundred thousand smaller pieces obviously won't work.

The more headaches are precisely those small debris. Space junk moves at a speed of 6,000 to 7,000 meters per second in space, because the relative speed is very high and the potential harm is great. A space junk weighing only 10 grams is produced. Its impact capability is also equivalent to the energy produced by a head-on collision between two cars traveling at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour.

For the "Forerunner 2" space station operating in low orbit, the threat of small debris is huge. Without clearing these space debris, the threat of a potential series of impact events will be difficult to eliminate.

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