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From laser beams and wooden satellites to galactic tow truck services, emerging companies in Japan are trying to imagine ways to deal with a growing environmental problem: space debris.
Garbage such as used satellites, rocket parts, and collision debris have been accumulating since the space age began, and the problem has accelerated in recent decades.
“We are entering an era in which many satellites will be launched one after the other. Space will be increasingly occupied,” said Miki Ito, CEO of Astroscale, a company dedicated to space sustainability. “.
“There are simulations that suggest the space will not be able to be used if we continue like this,” he told AFP. “So we need to improve the celestial environment before it’s too late.”
The European Space Agency (ESA) estimates that about a million pieces of debris larger than an inch, large enough to “deactivate a spacecraft”, are in Earth orbit.
They are already causing problems, from a near-accident in January involving a Chinese satellite, to a five-millimeter hole sunk into a robotic arm at the International Space Station last year.
“It is difficult to predict exactly how quickly the amount of space debris will increase,” said Toru Yamamoto, a senior researcher at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
But “it’s an issue that raises real concerns about the sustainable use of space.”
With satellites now crucial to GPS, broadband and banking data, collisions pose significant risks to Earth.
Tadanori Fukushima has seen the scale of the problem in his work as an engineer with Tokyo-based satellite operator and broadcaster SKY Perfect JSAT.
“A stationary satellite would receive about 100” debris approach “alerts a year,” he told AFP.
International “satellite disposal guidelines” include rules such as moving used satellites to “cemetery orbit,” but increasing waste means more is needed, experts say.
Fukushima launched an internal start-up in 2018 and plans to use a laser beam to vaporize the surface of space debris, creating an energy pulse that pushes the object into a new orbit.
The radiation laser means you don’t have to touch any residue, which is generally said to move about 7.5 miles per second, much faster than a bullet.
For now, the project is experimental, but Fukushima hopes to test the idea in space in the spring of 2025, working with several research institutions.
According to Fukushima, Japanese companies, along with some in Europe and the United States, are leading the way in developing solutions.
Some projects go further, including Astroscale’s space “tow truck,” which uses a magnet to pick up out-of-service satellites.
“If a car breaks down, call a crane service. If a satellite breaks down and stays there, it faces the risk of colliding with rubble and needs to be picked up quickly,” he explained. Ito.
The company conducted a successful test last year and imagines someday equipping customers ’satellites with a“ docking plate ”equivalent to the hook of a tow truck, allowing collection later. .
Astroscale, which has a contract with ESA, plans a second test in late 2024 and expects to launch its service shortly thereafter.
Other efforts address the problem from the outset, creating satellites that do not produce debris.
Kyoto University and Sumitomo Forestry predict a wooden satellite orbiting a rocket and burning safely when it sinks to Earth.
This project is also in its infancy: in March, pieces of wood were sent to the International Space Station to test how they respond to cosmic rays.
Space agencies have their own programs, with JAXA focusing on large debris weighing more than three tons.
And internationally, companies such as Orbit Fab, based in the United States, and Neumann Space in Australia, have proposed ideas such as orbital refueling to extend the life of satellites.
The problem is complex enough to need a number of solutions, said Yamamoto of JAXA.
“There is no panacea.”
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