RemoveDebris successfully demonstrates net capture of debris-mimicking cubesat

by | Sep 19, 2018 | Satellites, Seradata News, Technology

Moment of capture: RemoveDebris net snags the errant Debrisat 1. Courtesy: SSTL

The University of Surrey/SSTL-built RemoveDebris spacecraft demonstrator satellite made an ejection of a 2U cubesat called Debrisat 1 to mimic debris at 2306 GMT on 16 September. It then fired an untethered net to successfully snag the tumbling Debrisat 1. In this instance the net was not tethered to the mothership. On future missions this would drag the debris back to the main spacecraft to remove it from independent orbit. This time the net just wrapped around the cubesat mimicking space “debris”,and will increase its surface area and drag coefficient to accelerate orbital decay. The RemoveDebris mission will later carry out a test of other technologies including a harpoon and inflatable drag sail.

Update on 18 Feb 2019: The harpoon experiment on 8 Feb 2019 to strike and “capture” a target plate extended from the satellite on a 1.5 m boom mimicking a piece of debris was successful.

About Seradata

Seradata produces the renowned Seradata database. Trusted by over 100 of the world’s leading Space organisations, Seradata is a fully queryable database used for market analysis, failure/risk assessment, spectrum analysis and space situational awareness (SSA).

For more information go to https://www.seradata.com/product/

Related Articles

Categories

Archives

Tags

nasaspacexecoreviewsissesaArianespacechinavideoFalcon 9v1.2FT Block 525virgin galacticfalcon 9ULARoscosmosevaspacewalkDGABlue Originaviation weekInternational Space StationRocket LabaresIGTsoyuzBeidouawardsStarlinkAirbus DSboeingspaceSatellite broadcastingrussiamoonOneWebISROCargo Return VehiclemarsblogresearchspaceshiptwoorionmarsjaxaimpactEutelsatdelayhyperbolaSESdemocratthales alenia spacegoogle lunar prizerocketlunarhypertextobamalaunchVegatourismconstellationbarack obamafiguresnorthspaceflightIntelsatnode 2fundedElon MuskLockheed MartinRaymond LygoAtlas V2009romeExpress MD-2dassault aviationss2sstl2008wk2aviationLucyradiouksuborbitalVirgin Orbittestmissiledocking portexplorationSLSAriane 5 ECAinternetLong March 2D/2China Manned Space Engineeringsts-122Ariane 5Northrop GrummanElectronmissile defensenewspapercotsgalileospace tourismflight2010Long March 4CspaceportExpress AMU 1buildspace stationaltairsoyuz 2-1ashuttleProton Minternational astronautical congressscaled compositesAriane 6Intelsat 23European Space AgencyLauncherOnespace shuttleCosmoshanleybudgetrulesnew yorkLong March 2Cnew shepardInmarsatVietnamatvshenzhoucongressMojavelaunchesboldenUK Space AgencycnesOrbital ATKUS Air Forcelunar landeriacGuiana Space CenterApollolawsSpace Systems/LoralLong March 4BKuaizhou 1AkscprotonElectron KSdarpaILSTalulah RileyVega CFalcon 9v1.2 Block 5Space InsuranceNorth KoreaeuSkylonAstriumpicturebaseusaastronautdragonlanderfiveeventTelesatSSLEchostarAprilSNC50thfalconWednesdaySea LaunchLong MarchinterviewViasat

Stay Informed with Seradata

Stay informed on the latest news, insights, and more from Seradata by signing up for our newsletter.