Robo-arms, Harpoons, and Revolving Magnets: The Race to Clean up Space Junk
Robo-arms, Harpoons, and Revolving Magnets: The Race to Clean up Space Junk
It’s sad but true—these days, we even have litter in space. That’s right, there’s been a rise in space junk that directly coincides with the number of private companies that are now capable of putting satellites in orbit. The US space agency says there are more than 100 million pieces of space junk and debris currently in orbit. Aside from being a somewhat shameful introduction to the final frontier, space junk also presents a series of perils to astronauts and even us back on Earth. Even the smallest piece of debris can cause damage due to traveling at such high speeds. That means that space waste collection requires us to snag and control pieces of broken satellites traveling at 25,000 kilometers per hour while operating at radiation levels. So, what’s the answer? Scientists aren’t counting anything out—the list of potential solutions includes nets, harpoons, and, yes, even magnets!
Sustainable Space Operations
The space industry is faced with an enormous challenge—to develop tools to repair satellites and collect space junk. In response, there is a new fleet of space service vehicles that are being compared to the Swiss Army Knife. According to Yang Gao, a professor of autonomous space systems at the University of Surrey, says roughly 300 missions are coming up to service satellites and collect debris by 2030. Gao is testing a robotic arm that uses artificial intelligence to autonomously snag spinning pieces of junk and do repair work. But there are innumerable obstacles to deal with, so other routes are being explored as well, including a “grabber” that has been compared to Pac-Man.
Mission for Magnets
Another option — one that we can’t help but be particularly interested in — is a system of spinning magnets! The goal is to use it to carefully steer the space junk into an orbit where it burns up. Generally, space junk is non-magnetic aluminum, but the potential new tech (in various stages of testing) steers electrically conductive objects using magnetic induction. A spinning magnetic field causes an electrical current that forms an eddy current in the conductor; then, the eddy current or loop creates a secondary magnetic field that turns the object into an electromagnet. That electromagnet applies force to the source of the original field. A Japanese satellite servicing company called Astroscale recently launched a mission to show how magnets could potentially be used to collect space junk. It completed the first stages of a test that involved detaching a linked craft and then recapturing the smaller 17-kilogram replica debris unit. However, more complex steps in the plan have been suspended due to unforeseeable spacecraft conditions. It will be interesting to see where this research and testing leads in the next decade or so.
