Roscosmos plans to build a machine to clean the debris from orbit

Over the past few weeks "Roskosmos" displayed extraordinary activity before: there is already a plan to create an orbital lunar base, a project to create components and equipment for the surface lunar base project to create a lunar rover and even project on mining on the Moon.

Now there's another project on the creation of space garbage man - machine that can clean up the Earth's orbit of space debris, or at least part of it.

This unit is planned to create in the 2016-2025 year, the practical realization of the project will begin in 2018, and in 2025 the ship had to be tested. Name of the ship was very revealing - "liquidators".

Under the plan, the weight of "liquidators" would be about 4 tons, and in one working cycle can be removed up to ten nonworking satellites and boosters. By the time the cycle will not last more than 6 months. Just such a device you plan to use for about 10 years.

"The task of creating such a super machine. The Contractor is not defined. I guess would be considered projects of several manufacturers who have experience in creating and operating satellites in geostationary orbit. This RSC "Energia", Khrunichev, Lavochkin, ISS Reshetnev. We can assume that some benefit will be those companies that have wider experience of approach and docking in orbit, as here, these technologies will be in demand, "- said Alexander Danyluk, first deputy general director TsNIIMASH.

It is worth noting that most of the debris is low orbits until two thousand kilometers. True, the "liquidators", according to plan, should begin work in orbit 36,000 kilometers (geostationary orbit), which is considered the most commercially interesting. Plan to use two options: either convert garbage into a higher orbit where it all will not interfere with the ongoing work of other satellites ever encountered debris from orbit so that sooner or later he entered the Earth's atmosphere and fell near Christmas Island (there directed most reducible orbit spacecraft).

For the realization of such a project "Roskosmos" asks 10, 8 billion. So far, all of the plans, "Roscosmos" the most expensive is a plan to create an ultra-modern national constellation (350 billion rubles) and the creation of super-heavy launch vehicle (214, 6 billion rubles).

Via izvestia

Source: habrahabr.ru/post/234225/