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by mrguyorama 1034 days ago
Sending up a whole rocket/"catcher" for every single bit of space debris you want to deorbit cannot possibly work.

What other options are there?

3 comments

I wonder if we couldn't "harpoon" debris with lower cost tethers like the ones tested on TEPCE, but optimized for drag rather than power generation?

[PDF Warning] https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD1161973.pdf

Their goal is to develop a reusable craft, this is a single-use prototype. I don't think they've published any concrete plans for how they'll achieve reusability.

Maybe a future version of the catcher would have a large/refillable gas tank that lets it catch things, change their trajectory just enough to hasten their descent, and then continue on mission?

A no-fuel way to drag things down would be even better, like the sibling comment talks about tethers. Imagine a catcher that attaches a tether line that slows down LEO objects purely by drag.

Adjusting orbits to match multiple satellites is a tough requirement, with a heavy delta-V cost. Especially more so if it needs to get to a deorbiting trajectory in between each catch.

Why, MegaMaid™ [1] of course!

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7aeWQCF1jM