Airbus Launches Device to Keep Dead Satellites from Tumbling in Space

Earth ’s ambit can be a chaotic home , with defunct ballistic capsule scoot aimlessly across the dark skies . so as to tackle the growing payoff of space debris , Airbus produce a new gadget designed to keep satellites from tumbling around after they ’re no longer of role .

The machine , capably nominate Detumbler , launch on Saturday on board a Falcon 9 rocket from California ’s Vandenberg Space Force Base . It was one 90 load toliftoffas part of SpaceX ’s Transporter-9 mission .

Detumbler is a magnetic damping gimmick that ’s meant to be tie to a orbiter that ’s nearing the end of its life , consort toAirbus . count around 100 grams , Detumbler has a cardinal rotor coil wheel and magnet that interact with the Earth ’s magnetised field , which prevent undesirable motion when defunct satellite start to get onto . The machine is designed to deport like a compass when the satellite is flying unremarkably in its orbit , aligning with Earth ’s magnetic field of view . If it begins to tumble , however , the movement of the rotor coil will actuate eddy current ( loops of electrical current within conductor induced by a changing magnetised field ) and make friction to slow down the movement .

An illustration of space debris littering Earth orbit.

An illustration of space debris littering Earth orbit.Illustration: ESA

The equipment was developed by Airbus in 2021 with backup from the French Space Agency CNES under its Tech4SpaceCare initiative . The main purpose is to address the growing hazard of space detritus . Dead satellite be given to whirl in irregular way due to orbital escape dynamics , posing a danger of break apart into another spacecraft or do uncontrolled reentry through Earth ’s standard pressure .

The Detumbler , however , would make it sluttish to seize defunct artificial satellite by future missions aimed at cleaning up distance debris by keeping them on a more predictable track in Earth orbital cavity . Airbus ’ new gimmick will be test on the Exo-0 nanosatellite from EnduroSat in early 2024 with a series of detumbling demonstrations .

There are more than 27,000 pieces of orbital rubble that are currently beingtrackedby the Department of Defense ’s global Space Surveillance web , with lots of smaller pieces also floating around undetected . That number is only expected to increase as the global quad industry continue to grow , increasing the chance of collisionright above our heads . thing have get so bad already that the target of a recently found space debris clean - up mission wasstruck by place debrisin August , highlight just how significant mitigation methods are needed today .

Photo: Airbus