Earth is currently surrounded by millions of space junk, from the bus-sized trash cans to the city. Space junk is not only harmful to the earth, because it could fall at any time.
However, this waste could also jeopardize the International Space Station now in orbit in. Because when two objects collide, it will be broken up to a thousand pieces. This is certainly disturbing station operational.
To overcome the problem of space junk, a number of Swiss scientists and engineers created the project CleanSpace One. Prototype satellite project sweeper waste this space was created with span length of 30 cm, and length and height of 10 cm.
Sweeper satellite is planned to be ready for release in early 2015. Thus CleanSpace One is designed to meet and destroy picosattelit (micro satellites) belonging to the other Swiss, Tisat.
On arriving at the targeted place, cleaning CleanSpace One satellite will open a 'hand', holding a satellite waste, and brought together in the atmosphere to burn.
CleanSpace One designed and built in the Swiss Space Center, part of the Swiss Federal Institute for Technology in Lausenne (EPFL). The scientists are currently mengembangangkan propulsion system (control) that enables electric CleanSpace One holding the space junk.
"The main challenge today is to prepare or a robotic hand grasping mechanism that allows the preparation of satellite Switzerland (Tisat) that," says EPFL researcher, Muriel Richard.
If this is successfully developed, the team hopes to offer and sell their homemade systems to clean up space junk in various shapes and sizes. "The space agency found it necessary to make this into consideration and preparation to clean items that have they launched into space. We want to be a pioneer in this area," said Director of the Swiss Space Center, Volker Gass.
In line with Volker Gass, Muriel Richard also said the system is relatively inexpensive CleanSpace One is expected to help the development of space trash cleanup. "This is not the construction of millions, but this level of development based on the university," he said.
According to the astronaut and professor at the EPFL, Claude Nicollier, space junk is a big problem that is often taken for granted, just like global warming. "There is a similarity of the two issues that, if we do not do anything, we have a big problem in the future,"
Home » Claude Nicollier »
Create »
International Space Station »
Satellite »
Space debris »
Space Satellite »
state Garbag »
Swiss »
Swiss Space Center »
Switzerland
» Swiss state Garbage Sweeper Create Space Satellite