Scientists from the European Space Agency ESA want to control the fall of the satellite to Earth.
If successful, the operation could prove very useful in the coming decades for the management of satellite waste above the atmosphere.
Scientists from the European Space Agency ESA want to control the fall of the satellite to Earth.
If successful, the operation could prove very useful in the coming decades for the management of satellite waste above the atmosphere.
This may become one of the scientific achievements of the year. Aeolus, a European Space Agency (ESA) satellite, has not been on a mission since 30 April. Prior to this, the machine collected valuable information about the winds that hit our planet. Obsolete, in part due to a lack of fuel, Aeolus was supposed to orbit the Earth before gradually falling to the Earth’s surface, pulling the satellite to the planet under the influence of gravity.
“If no intervention is made from the ground, Aeolus will return naturally – which is now commonplace, knowing that on average one spacecraft per month re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere,” indicates ESA on its website. But as space becomes more attractive to world powers and private companies, the amount of debris orbiting the Earth will increase dramatically in the coming years. More than 23,000 such objects are currently in orbit around the blue planet, according to NASA.
Coming back to the rules
Consequence: the risk of satellite debris colliding with the possibility of seeing one of these fragments fall back to Earth increases. While the risk of an accident remains very rare, the researchers say, space agencies are starting to think about how best to manage this plug of debris above our heads. It is by this logic that the ESA decided to implement the “return assistance” of the Aeolus satellite. However, nothing obliged the agency to do it so quickly: in accordance with the regulations in force at the time the mission was planned in the 2000s, it still had twenty-five years to repatriate.
The main remote manipulations with the machine will take place on Friday, July 28, the day of the return to Eol Earth. ” It is hoped that only 20% of the mass of the satellite will remain, which will not burn out, i.e. approximately 200 kg. “, detailed on Parisian Benjamin Bastida Virgili, Systems Engineer for Space Debris Management at ESA. Regarding the geographical area where what remains of the satellite will fall,we chose an area over the Atlantic, without islands without anything, to minimize risks“, – further specifies the researcher to the newspaper.
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If all goes well, this remote-controlled return could inspire other operations of this type. Know-how that could come in handy, as since 2014 ESA has been required to plan for the return to Earth of its machines sent into orbit after their mission is completed.
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