Dear MEL
Topic Readers,
Japan
tests innovative magnetic tether for slowing space junk
Fishing
net in space? Sounds very conventional to collect something but it is indeed
innovative to make space safer for astronauts and satellites.
There
are uncountable number of potentially harmful pieces orbing the planet. They
are abandoned parts, tools and pieces of no-longer used satellites or rockets,
as well as destroyed objects by space weapons. Enormous number of debris are
traveling around Earth over 20 times faster than the speed of sound, or about 30
times as fast as the cruising speed of a jetliner. If any of these high-speed orbiting
objects of any size hit a rocket, satellite or space station, the damage would
be catastrophic.
In order
to reduce the risk of this clear and present danger, Japan came up with an idea
to use a specially made magnetic fishing net to catch such debris to slow them
down, so that they would be pulled into atmosphere by Earth’s gravity and be
burnt.
Enjoy
reading the article and think if this solution is innovative or primitive.
No comments:
Post a Comment