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Two defunctsatellites nearly collidedon Jan. 29 , and their tight call ( the object missed each other by an estimated 154 foot , or 47 meters ) renewed tending for a growing problem far above Earth : a cloud of space junk .
zillion of objects make up this orb junkyard , where hurtling fragments can progress to speeds of nearly 18,000 miles per hour ( 19,000 kilometer / h ) , around seven times faster than the speed of a heater , concord to NASA . About 500,000 pieces of debris are at least marble sizing , and approximately 20,000 physical object are the size of it of a softball or large , NASA reported in 2013 .
A conceptual image illustrating space debris orbiting Earth.
Adding to the fuddle is the proliferation of miniature satellites call cubesats . These 4 - in - foresightful ( 10 centimeters ) cubes weigh just 3 lbs . ( 1.4 kilograms ) and launching costs start up at $ 40,000 ; secret companies commission them by the thou to accumulate datum and leave internet and radio service , according to Los Alamos National Laboratory .
With this buildup of space congestion , aerospace engineersare racing to develop technologies and systems that can prevent crashes in ordination to protect knead satellites , future space missions , and citizenry and property on the soil , Los Alamos experts told Live Science .
Related : How much outer space junk hits Earth ?
Signals from extremely low resource optical identifier (ELROI) tiles could help reduce the risk of crashes between drifting bits of space trash.
around 5,000 satellites carry payload into orbit around our major planet , but only around 2,000 are active and communicating withEarth , said David Palmer , a Los Alamos blank and removed - sensing scientist .
" Currently , when something is launched — and a launch can release 100 or more satellites — the wheeler dealer and the infinite surveillance people have to track every piece of quad hardware that is relinquish by the rocket and specify individually which piece is which , " he told Live Science
Palmer is the principal investigator for a project developing a eccentric of electronic licence plate for satellites . This will allow satellite to broadcast their proprietor and position for as long as they ’re in place , even after the satellite ceases to officiate .
Vacuum ignition tests demonstrate rocket fuel that can reignite for multiple burns.
Self-powered and laser pulsing
The so - hollo license home plate is about the size of a Scrabble tile , modest enough to be hold by even flyspeck cubesats . Dubbed the extremely low - imagination optic identifier , or ELROI , it produces a unequaled identifying code — a satellite permit number — with a laser that blinks 1,000 times per second . Patterns created by the blinks translate into serial codes that can be read by scope on the ground , identify a satellite ’s owner and coordinates .
Because ELROI is powered by its ownsolar jail cell , it can keep " talking " to Earth after the end of the satellite ’s life span . And because ELROI is little and lightweight and require no external world power , it can well be attached to pieces of space hardware that do n’t haveradio transmitters , such as the arugula that set up satellites into space and roll up as free - floating rubble .
By providing traceable data for individual objects in the ever - increasing cloud of space debris , ELROI could play a critical role in head off collisions . It could even monitor radio transmissions in working planet and zippy operators when communicating is disrupt , Palmer said .
" Beyond its identification function , it can also be used as a low - bandwidth diagnostic role . So that will also aid to boil down the amount of confused satellites in space , " he added . " License plate technology is only part of the solvent — but it ’s an important part . "
Rocket science
When rockets launch planet into orbit , they typically burn out all their fuel at once . However , filling rockets with a type of fuel that can be repeatedly reignited could give ground hustler yet another option for keeping satellite safe from space crashes , Los Alamos inquiry engine driver Nick Dallmann separate Live Science .
" What we ’ve been play on here at Los Alamos is making a solid rocket engine [ one that employ satisfying fuel ] where you could start it , stop it and then re-start it again , " say Dallmann , a project leader for the development of this novel method . Being capable to reignite a skyrocket ’s fuel even after a planet achieves orbit could enable space ironware to shift course for quash a potential collision , he explained .
" We have been maturing the concept in which our skyrocket is a warhead integrated into a satellite , " Dallmann said . " Potentially , many years after the satellite has separate from the launch fomite upper stage , our consignment may be called upon to perform an emergency orbital debris turning away manoeuvre . "
Since the 1960s , scientists have known that chop-chop slow down the burning chamber in a solid - fuel rocket could extinguish the suntan after kindling . For Dallmann and his colleagues , the challenge was to create a reclaimable lighting system combined with a mechanism to speedily decompress the fuel bedchamber .
Another challenge was how to reignite the fuel , as igniters are typically destroyed by the first tan . To solve that , the scientist decided not to use the established pyrotechnic lighter . Instead , they experimented with separating piddle intohydrogenandoxygenwithin the combustion chamber and then ignited them using an electrode to generate a electric discharge . Then , the researchers decimate the burn through decompression .
" We ’ve been able to germinate this to the item where we can perform multiple burns sequentially in a humble rocket , " Dallmann suppose . Next steps will include tests in orbit , " where we would perform multiple burns onboard a cubesat , " Dallmann said .
Originally published onLive Science .
