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I was really impressed with this, while it is only a test it shows you can build a tungsten penetrator type harpoon and latch a line on to space debris. Once at
by ChuckMcM 8y ago
I was really impressed with this, while it is only a test it shows you can build a tungsten penetrator type harpoon and latch a line on to space debris. Once attached adding a small delta V even with something like an ion thruster could accelerate the deorbiting of space junk.
- stevep98 8y agoI dont think the delta-v for deorbiting is even necessary. You just need to agglomerate all the debris into one big mass. This will make it easier to track. In the future, when we need some in-orbit resources, etc, we can use these. (much of the debris is spent booster stages)
- marsokod 8y agoYou would still need a delta-V to agglomerate multiple debris. Depending on the context, it may be cheaper to just de-orbit them. We're a long way from recycling stuff in orbit. We've not even started manufacturing anything worthy in orbit.