Stuff in Space – realtime 3D map of objects in Earth's orbit
stuffin.space
stuffin.space
It bothers me that crossing an invisible line in the ground blocks access to stuff that others can see simply by standing on a different patch of dirt.
(With the added irony that this is a Japanese show, in the Japanese language, and I am physically in Japan at the moment.)
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You see a slow-moving ship. You then watch a slowly-drifting screw. Then, at the moment they're shown together, you realize their relative velocity is like that of a bullet.
(Also, I love the anime. It tries to handle space with as much scientific realism as possible. Also, even though it frequently shows the worst aspects of humanity, it also shows the best, and overall is pretty hopeful about space.)
It's nothing compared to the amount of junk on the ground and in the oceans. Let's also work on lowering that, I propose starting with each of us -- including you -- refusing disposable stuff and acquiring less stuff in general.
It's the forgotten point of reduce, reuse, recycle. People are almost always surprised when I mention that it's a ranked list, heading towards less efficacy. You might be proud of recycling, but it's the low hanging and least useful choice. Simply not using things or re-using sturdier goods is far and away the better choice in terms of waste.
I must say, I love the "Find all objects from this launch..." option. You can learn so much.
For instance, I've clicked on some random satellite in the GEO band, and viewed all objects from its launch:
https://i.imgur.com/tknQtDk.png
The closest object to Earth is a tank, which suggests a high-inclination launch. I guess Baikonur?
Next, you see a band of debris on less-inclined orbits. Those are close together, suggesting maybe fairings, or remnants of explosive stage separation? Stuff in space will drift apart like that, if you give it a slight push.
And lastly, in GEO band, is the satellite itself.
Briz also drops a fuel tank early on.
Fairings are dropped while sub-orbital. India put one in orbit last year, but not intentionally.
http://celestrak.com/events/collision/
There are probably more that are unknown amongst smaller objects.
To be helpful in understanding the problem, it should probably include collision probabilities and relative velocities involved. It will be immediately ovious that, for example, GEO is absolutely safe despite having quite a bunch of "dots", and the most dangerous place is 15 and 14 orbits per day Sun-syhchronous orbits, where the most remote sensing stuff lives.
http://apps.agi.com/SatelliteViewer/?Status=Operational
product page:
Visualization: https://platform.leolabs.space/visualization
LEO Catalog Pages: https://platform.leolabs.space/catalog/L335
Disclosure: I work for LeoLabs.
http://stuffin.space/?search=1999-025
https://www.space.com/3415-china-anti-satellite-test-worriso...
If you target a bigger piece on one side it could cause a reaction to push it towards earth. If it's a small piece, it may disintegrate it. If it's spinning, it may alter it's orbit to eventually fall, etc...
Is this an unreasonable concept? I know this stuff is hard to find, but here we have a data showing we know where some of it is, and add some radar/lidar/whatever-dar to the satelite and get it a shootin. And no, I don't think a spacebased laser for shooting junk could harm anything planetside.
Works in theory, but it seems impractical to me.
Also, rotating mirrors would aim laser, not rotating the satellite. If cleverly done, could point any direction.
All day solar power not enough energy?
Mirrors... Shooting from above is the "cleanest" shot. Hitting debris at an angle will change the debris orbital path (non-deterministic for rotating junk) until it re-enters the atmosphere. That's a risk for space control, which relies on predictable orbits.
Capacitors are a solution if the laser requires far more energy than the solar panels, but that lowers the cleanup rate of one satellite.
Like I said, the idea works. However, there are tradeoffs between price and results - I don't know that there's a practical balance.
Of course this is all theory, doesn't every good solution start with a theory, then a poorly functioning prototype before you ever get something truly useful?
>...it only makes matters worse since it can turn bigger debris into multiple smaller ones.
That's the question, would it though? Real lasers don't behave like hollywood lasers. And are smaller pieces worse than large ones? Maybe the type of material could be detected, and laser based cleaning would work perfectly well with some types of material?
Smaller pieces are worse because they're more numerous if you break up a bigger piece and harder to spot and avoid. Also the probability of a crash increases with the number of debris.
That means, there is a size small enough that it's no longer an issue. For someone knowledgable, I think it's simple to determine a ratio of size/speed/material type to determine whether or not to shoot the object with a laser or some other method.
https://strainer.github.io/fancy#1
The satellites are in orbit, their speeds should be quite accurate, the rate of time can be adjusted and keys are displayed on screen for zooming.
There's also an anime series about space junk, 'Planetes' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetes) -- which does the best job I've seen in any visual media of getting orbital mechanics right, and is generally somewhere between 'The Expanse' and 'Seveneves' on the scale of sci-fi "hardness". And, as far as anime goes, is relatively light enough on "anime bullshit" to be watchable even if you're normally not into that.
Search for molniya.