Date: 16/03/2018 21:19:48
From: Tau.Neutrino
ID: 1200391
Subject: Airbus have a plan to hunt down space junk with a high-tech harpoon

Airbus have a plan to hunt down space junk with a high-tech harpoon

They have been used to hunt down whales and now there are plans to use harpoons to hunt down space junk orbiting the Earth.

more…

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Date: 16/03/2018 21:47:37
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 1200412
Subject: re: Airbus have a plan to hunt down space junk with a high-tech harpoon

Wow. I like anything that involves harpoons in space.

Outer space is the natural environment of the harpoon. No interference from air or water drag, or refractive index distortions, and not much interference from gravity.

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Date: 16/03/2018 22:10:13
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 1200432
Subject: re: Airbus have a plan to hunt down space junk with a high-tech harpoon

Tau.Neutrino said:


Airbus have a plan to hunt down space junk with a high-tech harpoon

They have been used to hunt down whales and now there are plans to use harpoons to hunt down space junk orbiting the Earth.

more…

The harpoon is specifically designed to latch onto aluminium honeycomb panels.

OK, so it’s been specially designed to bring down Envisat. Checking up Envisat.

8 tons of weight, 2.5*2.5*10 m (compact) or 5*10*26m (unfurled) size, altitude 770 km, polar orbit. It lasted for 10 years of Earth observation on an original mission duration of 5 years, so was successful.

Polar orbit makes it more of a risk for impact. And 770 km is high for LEO so there’s no way it could come down on it’s own. But on the other hand it’s in the right altitude band for polar and near-polar orbiters.

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Date: 16/03/2018 22:13:10
From: Peak Warming Man
ID: 1200438
Subject: re: Airbus have a plan to hunt down space junk with a high-tech harpoon

I hope they’ve got another plan.

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Date: 16/03/2018 22:28:20
From: Tau.Neutrino
ID: 1200445
Subject: re: Airbus have a plan to hunt down space junk with a high-tech harpoon

Could a high altitude plane use a harpoon?

How close or far away do you need to be?

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Date: 16/03/2018 22:44:42
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 1200448
Subject: re: Airbus have a plan to hunt down space junk with a high-tech harpoon

Tau.Neutrino said:

Could a high altitude plane use a harpoon?

How close or far away do you need to be?

No.

It’s both distance and relative velocity. You need one or the other, preferably both, to be very small. The minimum distance separation would be 730 km which is quite a length of cable, and minimum speed difference would be about 25,000 km/hr.

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Date: 16/03/2018 23:03:46
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 1200450
Subject: re: Airbus have a plan to hunt down space junk with a high-tech harpoon

> How close or far away do you need to be?

Depends on how high tech the cable and harpoon are, and how high a risk of failure can be tolerated. And whether the cable has to stretch the full distance or can be released with a trailing rocket motor.

Let’s say with current technology the limit would be about 20 km, perhaps as large as 35 km. As for speed difference, 40 m/s.

With better technology both those limits could be greatly improved.

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Date: 18/03/2018 00:15:54
From: wookiemeister
ID: 1200762
Subject: re: Airbus have a plan to hunt down space junk with a high-tech harpoon

call me ishmael

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Date: 18/03/2018 23:14:59
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 1201117
Subject: re: Airbus have a plan to hunt down space junk with a high-tech harpoon

wookiemeister said:


call me ishmael

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