Space debris

The problem of clogging near-Earth space with "space debris" as purely theoretical arose essentially immediately after the launches of the first artificial Earth satellites in the late fifties. It received official status at the international level after the report of the UN Secretary General entitled "The Impact of Space Activities on the Environment" on December 10, 1993, where it was especially noted that the problem is international, global in nature: there is no clogging of the national near-earth space, there is clogging of the outer space of the Earth, equally negatively affecting all countries.

The need for measures to reduce the intensity of man-made clogging of space becomes clear when considering possible scenarios for space exploration in the future. There are estimates, the so-called "cascade effect," which in the medium term can arise from the mutual collision of objects and particles of "space debris." When extrapolating the existing low Earth orbit (LEO) clogging conditions, even taking into account measures to reduce the number of orbital explosions in the future (42% of all space debris) and other measures to reduce man-made clogging, this effect may in the long term lead to a catastrophic increase in the number of orbital debris objects on LEO and, as a result, to the practical impossibility of further space exploration. It is assumed that "after 2055, the process of self-multiplication of the remnants of human space activity will become a serious problem"^[1]

The catalog of the Russian Space Control System contains 13 thousand artificial objects: seven thousand objects with a size of more than 20 centimeters in low Earth orbit (from 160 kilometers to two thousand kilometers), as well as six thousand objects with a size of 20-40 centimeters in high (from two thousand to 50 thousand kilometers) near Earth orbit.

According to NASA, there are about 19 thousand artificial objects visible from Earth in Earth orbit.

2023

Development of a federal project to combat space debris

At the end of July 2023, Roskosmos announced the development of a federal project for a system for ensuring the safety of space activities in the near-Earth space "Milky Way." Read more here.

A space cleaner is presented that can bring non-working satellites into the atmosphere one after another

In mid-June 2023, aerospace company Astroscale unveiled the End of Life Services by Astroscale-Multiple (ELSA-M). It will become the world's first commercial space tug with the ability to vault many inactive satellites from orbit. The launch of the device is scheduled for 2025. Read more here.

14 thousand particles of space debris from Russia, the USA and China

Space debris is a big enough problem, especially at altitudes from 400 to 2000 kilometers from. Lands The total number of garbage particles is estimated at about 14 thousand, and most of them were produced by only three countries -/ Russia USSR, and: USA China four thousand particles each.

In the early period of space exploration, most of the garbage was produced by the United States, then the USSR took this place, and recently the sad leadership has passed to China. Although in general, in recent years the intensity of "littering" of the near-earth orbit has noticeably decreased: in 20 years from 1981 to 2000 almost 8 thousand particles of space debris appeared, in the period from 2001 to 2022 - less than 3 thousand.

2022

"Progress" saved the ISS from a collision with space debris

The Russian cargo spacecraft Progress took International Space Station (ISS) away from space debris by correcting the height of its orbit. This was Roskosmos reported in "" on December 21, 2022. More. here

Photonic RKS technologies will control space debris

On January 10, 2022, the company Russian space systems"" (, RKS part of the State Corporation Roskosmos"") announced that its specialists for monitoring near-Earth space space and observing artificial objects in orbit Lands offer to use current photonics technologies and original methods of ground processing of optical. information The corresponding space debris control system was also developed by the RKS patented to solve one of the most pressing problems - cleaning the Earth's orbit from spent artificial Earth satellites , various space objects and their fragments. More. here

2021

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak created a company to search for space debris

In mid-October 2021, it became known about the creation of a new company Privateer Space that will focus on finding space debris. This is a joint project Apple Steve Wozniak robotic of the co-founder and founder of Ripcord Alex Fielding. More. here

Russia signed an agreement to host a station in Africa that will look for space debris

Roscosmos signed an agreement in July 2021 to place a space debris search station in South Africa. This will be the second of four specialized complexes that Russia has signed^[2] that^[3] part of^[4] program].

The complex will identify objects in low, medium and high earth orbits. Its manufacturer is NPK "Precision Instrument Systems."

The station of the optical-electronic complex for the detection and measurement of space debris movement parameters (OEC OKM) will determine the angular coordinates of objects and verify with the data that are entered into the database. The information received will be transmitted to the data collection and processing center.

Technically, the complex is designed for autonomous search and detection of objects at altitudes from 120 to 40 thousand kilometers and is able to detect space objects that have a brightness of up to 18th magnitude.

The new station will be the second of four specialized complexes that are created to analyze the situation with space debris. The latter directly affects the safety of launches.

The first station was opened in April 2017 in Brazil, on the territory of the Pico dos Diaz Observatory (OPD), which is located 37 kilometers west of Itajuba (Minas Gerais).

Ion sound will help detect space debris

Space debris is spent spacecraft and their fragments, dust from solid-propellant rocket engines, flakes of flying paint, frozen liquid droplets, etc. As of 2019, the US Space Observation Network reported almost 18,000 artificial objects in orbit above Earth. According to estimates, there are more than 128 million fragments with a size of less than 1 cm, about 900,000 fragments with a size of 1-10 cm and about 34,000 fragments with a size of more than 10 cm. Non-human objects should be added to man-made debris - meteoroids (celestial bodies with a size in the interval from space dust to asteroids), located in near-earth orbit. Since the speed of movement of garbage objects can reach 10 km/s, even fragments measuring several microns can cause serious damage to spacecraft. For comparison, the human eye is not able to see particles less than 40 microns in size. ^[5]

Work on monitoring space debris has been carried out for a long time, including in Russia, using radar and optical devices, but this way you can track only quite large objects. Observing the waves that occur in the plasma as a result of the movement of debris charged under the influence of solar radiation and other types of cosmic radiation can become one of the methods of indirect detection of dangerous objects.

Researchers from NUST MISIS (Moscow) and the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Calcutta have proposed a new way to detect space debris by registering ion-sound waves resulting from the movement of garbage objects in near-Earth space plasma in low orbit. The study was published in the journal Astrophysics and Space Science^[6]

Plasma consists of charged particles, and the movement of charged debris in it has an effect similar to the process of forming waves on water. As a result, so-called ion-sound waves associated with ion oscillation arise in the plasma. They are the propagation of compaction in plasma, which is why they are called acoustic, by analogy with sound, which is also a wave of compaction, but in the air. Plasma is a nonlinear medium, i.e. its characteristics depend on the wave itself. Therefore, with a sufficiently high amplitude, ion-sound waves become nonlinear (they affect the environment, and they affect them) and are transformed into solitons - solitary waves that retain their shape during propagation. A distinctive feature of solitons is that when interacting with each other or with some other perturbations, they do not collapse, but continue to move, keeping their structure unchanged.

The researchers developed a mathematical model and calculated the exact parameters of the soliton that occurs when charged space debris moves in the plasma. It turned out that changing the source of waves in time and space leads to the appearance of accelerated solitons, and not ordinary ones moving at a constant speed. The authors determined exactly how the properties of solitons are determined by the position and speed of movement of space debris particles. This makes it possible to detect them from the specific solitons they create. Thus, the proposed approach could become the theoretical basis for a fundamentally new method for monitoring space debris.

2020

Japanese startup Astroscale to launch satellite to clean up space debris

Japanese startup Astroscale confident that the levy space debris could be a potentially profitable line of business. The Japanese propose to remove inoperative satellites and dropped rocket sections from orbit with the help of satellite with magnetic panels which such objects will be attracted. This became known on December 3, 2020. More. here

Swiss start-up ClearSpace SA to create tow truck to remove space debris

A tow truck development to remove space debris is being created by engineers from Switzerland. This became known on December 3, 2020. Read more here.

Japan to create artificial satellite to destroy space debris

The Japanese State Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to develop a satellite that will shoot down space debris (artificial objects in Earth orbit and their fragments, for example, fragments of rocket stages that no longer function, but pose a danger to operating manned and unmanned vehicles) into the atmosphere, where it will burn.

According to NHK^[7], the satellite operator SKY Perfect JSAT and the Japanese Institute of Natural Sciences Riken will also take part in the creation of the satellite. Japan intends to launch the device into orbit in about three years to^[8].

The problem of space debris has especially worsened in recent decades with the development of astronautics and launches of a large number of spacecraft into space. Because of this, vehicle operators perform "collision avoidance maneuvers" to protect their spacecraft from potentially catastrophic encounters with space debris. Earlier in Japan, the Space Task Force of the Air Self-Defense Forces was formed, which included about 20 people. Their task will be to monitor the safety of orbital satellites and control, among other things, space debris around them. Moreover, to spy on the wreckage of old devices, they intend to use a specialized radar, which from about 2023 will be located on the territory of a military base in Yamaguchi.

Roscosmos announced a space debris tracking system

On January 28, 2020, Roscosmos told some details about the system for finding dangerous asteroids and monitoring space debris. Previously, it was called ASPOS (Automated Warning System for Dangerous Situations in Near-Earth Outer Space), and now renamed the Milky Way. This was told by the first deputy general director of the state corporation "Roscosmos" Yuri Urlichich. Read more here.

2019

Europe to launch space debris collector in 2025

The European Space Agency signed an agreement at the end of 2019 with Swiss startup ClearSpace to launch^[9] in 2025].^[10] satellite will have to disorbit a large part of the Vega rocket, which was launched back in 2013, which will be the first such mission implemented^[11] said in a statement^[12].

Continued accumulation of debris from satellites and rocket parts in orbit can be a serious problem for the safety of already operating vehicles and the withdrawal of new ones. In this regard, many companies, both startups and state space agencies, are working on plans to clean up near-Earth space. However, so far none of these programs have been implemented.

The European Space Agency plans to become the first organization to carry out such an idea, as confirmed by the published information on the signing of a contract with ClearSpace. A mission called ClearSpace-1 will have to disorbit a piece of a Vega rocket weighing one hundred kilograms, which has been in space since 2013, in 2025. It remained after the launch of the European Proba-V Earth remote sensing satellite.

According to the agreement, employees of the startup ClearSpace, which was established by a group of experienced researchers on the space debris problem from the Lausanne Federal Polytechnic School, will be able to submit the final version of the project within a few months, and its implementation will begin in March 2020. The estimated cost of the project is 129 million US dollars, this should cover both the development and launch of the created device.

ClearSpace is completing the selection of companies for cooperation, as it itself will develop the device, and plans to order its creation from third-party organizations. According to the executive director of the company, Luc Piguet, the satellite, which does not yet have its own name, will have a high degree of autonomy and weigh no more than 400 kilograms. At the moment, designers are inclined to use chemical thrust in orbit, but in the future they do not exclude the possibility of using both chemical and electric engines.

The target was chosen as the conical elements of the Vespa divided payload output system, which allows one Vega rocket to deliver two satellites to orbits with different parameters. It is now at an altitude of about 800 kilometres, making it a suitable target due to its relatively small distance, as well as its simple shape and rigid structure. Also, in size, it roughly corresponds to a small satellite, of which there are already many in space, and given the plans for the commissioning of global satellite Internet systems, such objects may appear much more.

The first orbit cleaning apparatus will have to bring the target together with them, so that they will both burn in the Earth's atmosphere. In the future, it is planned to create reusable devices that can remove several debris without collapsing.

Bauman Moscow State Technical University designed a system for cleaning the Earth's orbit from large space debris

On September 12, 2019, it became known that scientists from the Moscow State Technical University named after N.E. Bauman designed a system of spacecraft to clear the Earth's orbit of large space debris. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.

According to the head of work Georgy Shcheglov, the system consists of several devices: one basic and about 15 small braking engine modules. The diameter of the module is about two meters, its length is about a meter. They attach to a fragment of space debris and take it out of orbit. The scientist recalled that earlier space debris was removed from orbit only once - when the Mir orbital station was flooded in the Pacific Ocean. However, it was manageable, and the development of MSTU is designed for unmanaged objects.

We have developed a structural and layout diagram. That is, before making a real spacecraft, you first need to decide on its architecture, so first they make a draft design. In other countries, there are similar developments, for example, there are many American patents, but their schemes are less rational than ours. In particular, they have many manipulators, more load when docking. We studied this when we were preparing a patent application,

He also noted that at the next stage, the inventors plan to create a prototype of the system. However, for this it will be necessary to find a source of funding^[13] for ^[14] has ^[15].

Spacecraft Project for Space Debris Collection and Disposal

Young scientists of the holding Russian space systems"" (RKS, part of the State Corporation ROSKOSMOS"") presented in March 2019 a project of a spacecraft for the collection and disposal of debris in Earth orbit (Criminal Police Service - space debris collector) at the To Moscow Archimedes-2019 International Salon of Inventions and Innovative Technologies. This is an original solution, involving the possibility of recycling fragments of spent satellites and booster units into fuel, which will then be used by the device itself to continue cleaning higher orbits from debris.

The presented project, developed and patented by an employee of the RKS on an initiative basis, involves the creation of a spacecraft that, using a special network, will be able to collect failed small-sized satellites, fragments of spacecraft and booster units and other operational debris.

The author of the project, RKS research engineer Maria BARKOVA: "The fundamental difference between our solution and existing similar projects is the processing of space debris into pseudo-liquid fuel. This allows you to solve several tasks at once - to ensure waste disposal and maximum operation time of the device, as well as minimize the cost of its launch into orbit. In fact, our apparatus will act as a predator that preys on garbage to get additional energy. "

According to the presented project, Criminal Police Service carries on board two titanium networks, which, using a system of cables, are first collected, and then, compressing, compress the garbage into a two-roll grinder. After that, it enters the drum-ball mill, in which it is processed to the state of fine powder.

On board the Criminal Police Service it is planned to place a water regenerator, the principle of which is based on the Sabatier reaction. This device, by means of a membrane-electrode unit, will produce an oxidizer - oxygen and fuel - hydrogen. These two substances will be mixed with powder from space debris and used as fuel for the on-board engine, which will be periodically turned on in order to raise the vehicle higher and higher as the orbits are cleared of debris, up to the burial orbit of the vehicle itself.

According to the project, the search for garbage is carried out in robotic mode using data from Russian and international catalogs of space objects. To catch fragments on board the spacecraft, in addition to the main one, shunting engines are supposed to be installed. According to calculations, the mass of the device will be about 2.5 tons. In one cycle (capture-grinding-recycling), it will be able to dispose of up to 500 kg of garbage.

It is assumed that the garbage collector will begin its work in an orbit of 400 km, which will reduce the cost of launching it as much as possible, since it will not be necessary to use an upper stage to put the device into such an orbit. The target altitude of the Criminal Police Service is orbits of 800-1500 km, since they are now the most polluted.

The number of fragments 34 thousand objects larger than 10 centimeters

about the data of the European Space Agency, since 1957, when the first artificial Earth satellite Sputnik-1 went into orbit, humanity has conducted about 5450 launches. The number of fragments, as of the beginning of 2019, was: 34 thousand objects with a size of more than 10 centimeters, 900 thousand objects with dimensions from one to 10 centimeters, 128 million objects from one millimeter to 10 centimeters.

The active use of near-Earth space in recent decades has led to the emergence of a large amount of space debris in the orbit of the planet. In total, according to scientists today, over half a million uncontrolled objects over a centimeter in size revolve around the Earth.

2018

Russia invented a laser gun to destroy space debris

Specialists of the Scientific and Production Corporation "Systems of Precision Instrument Engineering" (NPK SPP, part of Roscosmos) are developing a technology for reducing space debris from orbit by exposing it to a laser beam, according to the report of the NPK SPP, submitted to the RAS. A copy of the report is at the disposal of RIA Novosti^[16].

"To demonstrate the possibility of removing detectable space debris objects in low orbits, support the proposal of NPK SPP JSC to conduct research and experimental work to create an optical location system using a solid-state laser and a transceiving adaptive optical system," the proposal says.

It is proposed to convert the three-meter optical telescope of the Altai Optical Laser Center named after Titov into a "laser gun." The telescope itself is now under construction. Its main purpose is to monitor outer space in order to track satellites and the space debris threatening them. Two options for solid-state generators developed by the St. Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics are considered as power sources.

With the help of a laser pulse, scientists plan to evaporate matter from the surface of space debris, gradually dissolving it in space using the laser ablation method.

An anti-space debris laser is being developed for the ISS

The chairman of the expert group of the Council on Space Threats, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Boris Shustov spoke about the development of such an installation, which is being conducted by an international group of scientists^[17].

Now, to protect the ISS from space debris, evasion maneuvers are being carried out, which are carried out using the engines of the station itself or cargo ships docked to it. Such operations take place several times a year.

"At the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the first satellite, a meeting of the working group was held at the Space Research Institute, at which scientists from Italy, France, Japan and Russia agreed that international cooperation would be formed. All of them will think about the use of orbital lasers placed on the ISS in order to avoid collisions with small, several centimeters, but the most numerous and therefore the most dangerous debris of space debris, "Shustov said

.

The President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Sergeyev noted that the issue of using lasers to clean the near-earth orbit has been discussed for a long time.

Russian rod

The development of Russian scientists will reduce the size and technological complexity of the orbital laser, said, in turn, the head of the department of the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Oleg Palashov, who directly cooperates with foreign colleagues on the laser project for the ISS.

According to him, initially the idea of ​ ​ such an installation belonged to Japanese specialists who presented the project back in 2015. They proposed using three ready-made and still under development solutions: the ISS as a platform for placing the installation, a laser for powerful next-generation accelerators Xcan and a telescope to study the effects of cosmic rays JEM-EUSO with a 2.5-meter mirror on the atmosphere.

According to the initial project, the laser was supposed to concentrate energy from 10 thousand optical fiber channels. "We suggested that our colleagues reduce the number of channels from 10 thousand to 100 by using the so-called thin rods that are being developed at our institute instead of fiber," Palashov said. "This project itself is new. Only the possibility of creating such a laser and the potential for its placement on a spacecraft are considered, and the interface on how to control this kind of radiation is the next question, "he added.

According to Palashov, for such a laser to work at full capacity, all the electricity generated by the ISS will be required. Therefore, experts, realizing that it is impossible to de-energize the station, are working on a project that will consume only five percent of the available energy. This will limit the possibility of a shot duration to 10 seconds, and 200 seconds will go to reload. The firing range will be up to 10 kilometers. The equipment will weigh about 500 kilograms and occupy a volume of one to two cubic meters.

Russia to build space debris tracking station in Chile

The Russian space debris observation station is planned to be built in Chile in the near future, said Roskosmos Yuri Makarov, director of the department for strategic planning and organization of space activities, in May 2018^[18]

This will be the second such Russian station in the western hemisphere. The first observatory was opened last spring in Brazil. "One station is located in Brazil. The station is supposed to be located in Chile. It is almost ready, "he said at a meeting of the RAS Council on Space held in Moscow.

The first optoelectronic complex located abroad for tracking space debris in high orbits, created by the Astronomical Scientific Center JSC for an automated warning system for dangerous situations in near-earth space (ASPOS OKP), was installed in 2013 in Armenia. The second optical-electronic complex in the interests of ASPOS OKP, created by the Scientific and proizvodstv­ennoy Corporation "Precision Instrument Systems," was opened on April 5, 2017 on the territory of the Pico dos Diaz Observatory in Brazil.

The main task of the ASPOS OKP is to identify dangerous approaches of operating spacecraft with ocosmic debris, detect the destruction of satellites in orbits and escort large potentially dangerous objects that uncontrollably go out of orbit.

In total, 10 opti­ko-electronic complexes, including 36 telescopes, operate as part of the ASPOS OKP. They are designed to automatically detect spacecraft and space debris objects, determine their coordinates, identify them for binding to objects entered into the database, transfer the received coordinate and non-coordinate information to the data collection and processing center. The complexes provide autonomous search and detection of objects at altitudes of up to 50 thousand km and are able to detect space objects and elements of space debris with a brightness of up to 18.5 magnitude, which for the height of a geostationary orbit corresponds to a size of about 30 ­ meters.

In total, Roscosmos plans to place five more specialized complexes of various compositions abroad for tracking space debris.

2017: Russia has learned how to deal with space debris

The tug lander (SAB) for capturing space objects allows you to free the orbital space from outdated and failed satellites with minimal financial costs.

Russian engineers managed to solve the problem of expensive "self-pickup" of outdated equipment from Earth's orbit and obtain a patent for their invention (by the way, the latter was recognized by the Federal Intellectual Property Service as a patent of the week). The authors of the decision were a team of scientists from the Moscow Aviation Institute and the Scientific and Production Association (NPO) named after S.A. Lavochkina^[19].

Scientists know two ways to evacuate man-made debris - using a separate shuttle spacecraft and installing a separate braking distance engine on the satellite itself, which allows the equipment to be returned to the atmosphere. True, both of them are economically unprofitable, and the served satellites remain in orbit. Including due to this circumstance, there is a real threat of a collision of significant space objects with man-made garbage, and this problem is becoming more and more urgent every year.

The inventors propose to use an innovative system to combat space debris. The latter includes a cargo container for placing an object to be removed from orbit, as well as an inflatable braking device (the latter can be filled with gas and take an aerodynamic shape). The device has a device for capturing an object removed from orbit, it is also equipped with a navigation system for finding the latter.

"The object to be removed from orbit is selected using ground observation stations. Then the tug vehicle with the cargo compartment of the required size is directed into the orbit of the object, mates with it, and then, using a controlled brake pulse, returns to the specified point of the conditional boundary of the atmosphere, "the description of the invention says on the website." "Rospatent

2016

Roscosmos is developing a space cleaner

Roscosmos is developing a project for a space cleaner capable of "blowing out" spent vehicles from orbit with a jet engine jet, Oleg Gorshkov, general director of TsNIImash (the parent organization of Roscosmos), told Izvestia newspaper ^[20].

According to Gorshkov, the mechanism is supplied with ion engines from opposite sides. It approaches the spent space satellite and turns on the engines at equal power, remaining in place due to this, and the jet of one of the engines changes the parameters of the orbit of the idle object, pushing it into dense layers of the atmosphere.

The duration of the ion jet of the killer satellite is determined by the goals and capabilities (engine power) of the device. "Estimates show that with an engine power of about 5 kilowatts, the time of withdrawal of the target satellite will take up to 15 days, depending on the mass and dimensions," Gorshkov said.

Japan to test space debris destruction device

The Japanese national aerospace agency JAXA intends to test the "space cord" - a device for destroying debris that accumulates in Earth orbit and poses an increasing threat, the Russian News Agency reported to TASS in December.

The technology will be launched using a heavy H-2Bi launch vehicle on an unmanned space truck Konotori (Stork). This will happen approximately on December 9th.

The Stork will deliver various cargoes to the ISS, and on the way back it will launch a 700-meter-long lace into space. This rather complex device will create an electromagnetic field that can slow down garbage in flight, take it out into the dense layers of the Earth's atmosphere, where all kinds of waste from orbit, in particular, old satellites, their fragments and fragments, should burn without a trace.

The current flight will be a test flight. If the "cord" demonstrates proper fighting qualities, JAXA intends to use such devices to clean orbits at an altitude of 800 to 1400 km, where there is especially much garbage.

According to UN estimates, about 300 thousand different unused artificial objects with a total mass of up to 5,000 tons rotate over our planet.

17.729 thousand man-made objects were in near-earth orbit

According to the quarterly report of the Johnson Space Center, by July 2016, 17.729 thousand man-made objects were in near-earth orbit, including 4.242 thousand active and failed satellites, as well as 13.487 thousand stages of launch vehicles, booster units, other space technology and its debris.

The first place in terms of space debris is occupied by Russia with 6.318 thousand space objects, the United States - in second place with 5.663 thousand units, China - in third with 3.779 thousand objects.

The development of the space industry on Earth may stop in one or two centuries if the problem of space debris in near-Earth space is not solved, according to the participants of the scientific conference "Cosmonautics of the 21st Century," whose opinion is quoted by the TASS Information Agency of Russia. The conference was attended by 600 specialists from the rocket and space industry.

"In the process of hearing and discussing the reports, the participants exchanged views on the creation of a long-term lunar base, the development of space nuclear, power engineering specialists promising technologies for the transfer of information in conditions of limited resources and many other topics, including the problem of space debris. If you do not deal with its decision, then, according to forecasts, in 100-200 years the development of space activities may stop, "according to the head scientific institute Roskosmos TsNIIMash on the basis of which the conference was held.

See also

• Recycling of garbage
• Technologies in recycling
• Electronic rubbish