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Comment by nobody31415 | Hacker News Reader

So apart from the tricky business of grabbing a bit of space junk going past you at Mach33 and changing it's delta-V so you can grab it and attach it to your satelite.

And the tricky business of dismantling a satelite and somehow re-wiring a dead 1970s TV broadcast sat into being a new earth resources bird.

It's then going to presumably reach down into the Silicon lattice structure of the panels and remove all the defects that 10years in space has introduced.

- You know all those secret DARPA/CIA projects on mind control drugs in the 60s the conspiracy nuts talk about? I think we have found their stockpile - and I suspect they might have a leak!

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So apart from the tricky business of grabbing a bit of space junk going past you at Mach33 and changing it's delta-V so you can grab it and attach it to your satelite

It'll be in (essentially) the same orbit, so it'll be drifting past the other satellites nice and slowly.

And the tricky business of dismantling a satelite and somehow re-wiring a dead 1970s TV broadcast sat into being a new earth resources bird

This is tricky. But mostly they just seem to be salvaging the dish antennas, which should be pretty interchangeable.

It's then going to presumably reach down into the Silicon lattice structure of the panels and remove all the defects that 10years in space has introduced.

They don't seem to be salvaging solar panels.

It'll be in (essentially) the same orbit, so it'll be drifting past the other satellites nice and slowly.

What are the range of velocities of objects in graveyard orbit? I wasn't able to find these numbers directly on a quick google search

The orbit you are in is directly dependent on your velocity. So if your orbit is similar to another objects, you'll be going at a similar velocity as well.

Put another way, if you are in the same orbit as another object, your velocity must be the same.

This illustrates itself in space docking procedures. If two objects are in the same orbit, one thrusting towards another in the direction of the orbit puts the first at a higher orbit and it'll rise with respect to second object. The converse holds true; thrust against the orbit and you'll fall with respect to the other object.

Thus, to dock, you have both crafts at slightly different orbits and the lower orbit will slowly gain on the higher orbit. In this way, one can control how fast the approach is. This will be how the satellite approaches debris most likely.

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