US space startup Rogue Space Systems plans to launch orbital robots to sort through space debris next year on Elon Musk and United Launch Alliance SpaceX rockets.
Orbital debris has become a big problem for the space industry. As the number of launches increases, more and more debris appears in space, including rocket parts and dead satellites. This creates the risk of collision.
Business Insider writes that Jerome Grimmett, founder and CEO of Rogue Space Systems, has found a solution to the problem: robots in space.
His startup has signed a contract with the space company Exolaunch for two launches on SpaceX rockets, each with two robots.
This will be followed by another launch on a ULA spacecraft in partnership with the US Space Force and an additional flight with SpaceX. There will already be a robot on board.
The first launch is planned for February 2023, the rest will be closer to May.
“We’re doing R2D2, but for real,” says Grimmett, referring to the popular Star Wars character.
Today, Rogue Space Systems has just four robots: Barry (supervising the operation of the satellites), Laura (participating in a variety of diagnostics), Charlie (still in the early stages of production), and Fred (a sorter with four “arm” manipulators). “). .
According to Grimmett, his robots will push space debris into the upper atmosphere, where it will burn up. Due to this, cleaning the space of unnecessary objects, instead of three years (as in some projects), will take only eight months.
According to various sources, there may be 120 to 140 million pieces of space debris around the Earth. And of course four robots is a very small number to help clean such a large volume. Therefore, Rogue Space Systems intends to produce more robots and related launches in the future.
Author:
Ekaterina Alipova
Source: RB
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