Geneva, 15 feb (EFE).-A family of satellites “cleaners” Swiss will be responsible for removing pieces of space junk orbiting Earth and pose a threat to satellites and spacecraft, which can collide.
La school Polytechnique Fédérale of Lausanne (Switzerland) announced today the launch of the first satellites desorbitadores, the CleanSpaceOne, which aims to launch a set of specially designed for this purpose satellites into space in the next three years.
At least 16,000 objects of more than ten centimeters in diameter and hundreds of millions of small particles orbiting at speeds of Vertigo around the Earth in many cases filing in the history of artificial satellites or space ships and threatening physical integrity.
These Galactic debris are mostly large remnants of rockets, old satellites already in disuse or components of space assets, such as speckles of dust or pieces of painting.
The collision of a spacecraft or a satellite with this waste can be a serious and expensive to repair damage, as well as the generation of more fragments that accrue around the Earth in the form of debris.
Astronaut and Professor of the school Polytechnic Federal of Lausanne Claude Nicollier claimed the need to “be careful” to space debris by the risks involved and their proliferation.
The process through which these space sweepers desorbitarán garbage starts with the launch of satellites to between 630 and 750 kilometers of height for below, go approaching the orbit of the target you want to remove thanks to a compact ultra motor.
At a speed of 28,000 kilometers per hour, the CleanSpaneOne will meet the target of his mission and embrace it with a kind of hook, inspired in the grip of animal and plant mechanisms.
Once United the satellite cleaner and piece of garbage, the first will use its engine to launch in the company of the other towards the Earth’s atmosphere where, to come into contact with the gases that form, typically two artifacts at temperatures above 1,000 degrees centigrade.
The approximate cost of the manufacture and space travel of these satellites will be 10 million francs (€8.3 billion).
The first victim of the CleanSpaceOne will be one of the first two objects launched into orbit by Switzerland: the Swisscube (launched in 2009) or Tlsat (July 2010).
Although the first prototype of the CleanSpaceOne is intended to be destroyed, the director of the Swiss space center, Volker Gass, said that the aim of the project is “offer and sell a family of satellites prepared for descarburar different types of satellites”.
“Space agencies are beginning to consider the Elimination of waste equipment that send to the space needed and we want to be pioneers in this area,” said. EFE
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