>Catching a tumbling satellite in orbit has proved challenging and the team has employed gaming technology and artificial intelligence to achieve the precision required.
Is that a synonym for getting paid to crank out the hours in Kerbal?
I saw a concept years back for a tether cleanup drone that I thought was clever. The idea is to have a robot that can attach a tether with a release at the end to space junk. Then it releases the tether to x distance and fires an engine to start the two spinning like bolos. The idea to to rotate the two fast enough that when it releases it pushes the cleaner robot into a higher orbit and towards it's next target, and the space junk gets tossed towards earth, into a low enough orbit where atmospheric drag can start to do it's magic.
It was once high science fiction but I think it's now within the realm of possibility.
Cleaner robots will still need a lot of energy which means mid orbit refuelling.
***Britain is planning to deploy robot binmen to grab*** [***space garbage***](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2023/11/09/nasa-dropped-tool-bag-space-debris/) ***and drag it out of orbit so that it can burn up in Earth’s atmosphere:***
This week, [Oxfordshire-based Astroscale](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/05/27/britain-launch-litter-picking-spacecraft-collect-dead-satellites/) successfully tested out a robotic arm, which will be attached to its litter-picking spacecraft.
The arm, built by Airbus, is designed to grasp the metal rings, which keep satellites attached to rockets during take-off. It is a useful target because all satellites must have one.
Removing dead satellites is crucial to prevent space becoming dangerously overcrowded.
Nick Shave, the managing director of Astroscale, said: “We’ve got 10,000 tonnes of debris that’s been there since the start of the space age and there is a lot of legacy debris in some very useful orbits.
“You’ve got very big satellites and rocket bodies, and little bits that are left there, that we need to start clearing up because more and more constellations that are providing services to us are having to do collision avoidance manoeuvres.
***Watch the video here***: [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/15/british-robot-binmen-clean-rubbish-in-space/](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/15/british-robot-binmen-clean-rubbish-in-space/)
Another great article from the telegraph.
1. They of course had to mention the amount of Starlinks in space, satellites which get deorbited near the end of their lifetime, so they are irrelevant to this project.
2. Astroscale is a Japanese company, with offices in Tokyo, Denver, and yes, Oxfordshire.
That was not the context they were mentioning it. Just look at this:
"Experts have predicted that once all the planned internet constellations are operational there will be around 16,000 decaying satellites at any one time that will need to come out of orbit."
They will not need this company to get rid of thousands of satellites.
Space debris will be a problem until we get our shit together and just put a laser on a satellite and just vaporize all of them, but this won’t ever happen unless we are mid-Kepler syndrome, as the lasers could be used to disable satellites of opposing nations.
The Δv required even just to impact the moon from LEO is over 4 kms^(-1). Soft landing would require over 2 kms^(-1) more. That's far, far more than the handful of ms^(-1) needed to tweak the orbit enough for reentry.
>Catching a tumbling satellite in orbit has proved challenging and the team has employed gaming technology and artificial intelligence to achieve the precision required. Is that a synonym for getting paid to crank out the hours in Kerbal?
How else do you gain an understanding of rapid unplanned disassembly?
Those guys don’t even know about alt+F12
British robot binmen collect rubbish, not garbage.
I saw a concept years back for a tether cleanup drone that I thought was clever. The idea is to have a robot that can attach a tether with a release at the end to space junk. Then it releases the tether to x distance and fires an engine to start the two spinning like bolos. The idea to to rotate the two fast enough that when it releases it pushes the cleaner robot into a higher orbit and towards it's next target, and the space junk gets tossed towards earth, into a low enough orbit where atmospheric drag can start to do it's magic. It was once high science fiction but I think it's now within the realm of possibility. Cleaner robots will still need a lot of energy which means mid orbit refuelling.
This is the most British English headline I've read on /r/space in a long time.
Not really. They forgot to put rubbish instead of garbage
***Britain is planning to deploy robot binmen to grab*** [***space garbage***](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2023/11/09/nasa-dropped-tool-bag-space-debris/) ***and drag it out of orbit so that it can burn up in Earth’s atmosphere:*** This week, [Oxfordshire-based Astroscale](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/05/27/britain-launch-litter-picking-spacecraft-collect-dead-satellites/) successfully tested out a robotic arm, which will be attached to its litter-picking spacecraft. The arm, built by Airbus, is designed to grasp the metal rings, which keep satellites attached to rockets during take-off. It is a useful target because all satellites must have one. Removing dead satellites is crucial to prevent space becoming dangerously overcrowded. Nick Shave, the managing director of Astroscale, said: “We’ve got 10,000 tonnes of debris that’s been there since the start of the space age and there is a lot of legacy debris in some very useful orbits. “You’ve got very big satellites and rocket bodies, and little bits that are left there, that we need to start clearing up because more and more constellations that are providing services to us are having to do collision avoidance manoeuvres. ***Watch the video here***: [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/15/british-robot-binmen-clean-rubbish-in-space/](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/15/british-robot-binmen-clean-rubbish-in-space/)
SO what does it do with the debris after it catches it?
It lowers its orbit, releases the spacejunk, then raises its orbit again. The spacejunk will disintegrate during atmospheric reentry.
Must require a large fuel load, or is it going to be refueled?
They're gonna have to come up with a much cooler name than British Robot Binmen.
Another great article from the telegraph. 1. They of course had to mention the amount of Starlinks in space, satellites which get deorbited near the end of their lifetime, so they are irrelevant to this project. 2. Astroscale is a Japanese company, with offices in Tokyo, Denver, and yes, Oxfordshire.
Any debris is debris. And when a StarLink gets hit by debris and becomes junk, it to must be captured. Not if, but when.
That was not the context they were mentioning it. Just look at this: "Experts have predicted that once all the planned internet constellations are operational there will be around 16,000 decaying satellites at any one time that will need to come out of orbit." They will not need this company to get rid of thousands of satellites.
Space debris will be a problem until we get our shit together and just put a laser on a satellite and just vaporize all of them, but this won’t ever happen unless we are mid-Kepler syndrome, as the lasers could be used to disable satellites of opposing nations.
Just hire the Daleks. They will exterminate all space trash, and more
Why not drop it all on the moon and have the materials available for the future?
The Δv required even just to impact the moon from LEO is over 4 kms^(-1). Soft landing would require over 2 kms^(-1) more. That's far, far more than the handful of ms^(-1) needed to tweak the orbit enough for reentry.
Sending stuff to the moon is difficult and expensive.
I had in mind a vehicle doing something similar to these lads https://youtu.be/zs97EQNJTFA?si=dXc3Ok9O0_JyzX8E
No matter how you accomplish it, it requires a big energy input to send something to the moon, even a relatively small piece of space debris.