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How about for every new sat we launch, a few micro sats (with extra fuel) go up with it, and each of these stays in a parking orbit ready to be commanded to att
by thisisbrians 6y ago
How about for every new sat we launch, a few micro sats (with extra fuel) go up with it, and each of these stays in a parking orbit ready to be commanded to attach to and knock down large debris or other decommissioned sats in range? If we did this for awhile, coverage could extend to most common orbits.
Edit: removed a redundant statement.
- dr_orpheus 6y agoRight now the economics for this don't add up. The risk of collision is quite low compared to launching "extra" satellites with the sole purpose of finding and tracking another satellite. It is also much more difficult to target an arbitrary piece of debris. If the incoming debris is in a similar orbit (both altitude and inclination) then it requires less fuel to be able track and find it. If the incoming debris/satellite is in a different orbital plane it requires a huge amount of fuel in order to change orbital inclination [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_inclination_change https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_inclination_change
- nradov 6y agoIf you want to carry enough fuel for significant orbital changes plus some sort of docking manipulator then you need a macro satellite, not micro.