![]() apply a force through its tether to detumble the targetĥ. keep a safe distance of 20-30 metres to shoot its first harpoonĤ. rendezvous with the target debris and observe it to gather data about its rotation rates and any potential damageģ. embark three deployers and three harpoonsĢ. The mission concept proposed encompasses a chaser that would:ġ. Envisat was selected for the activity not only because it is the largest debris risk of any European satellite, but also because it has large panels suitable for harpoon capture. The primary focus is Envisat, a large defunct and tumbling satellite. Finally they had to derive requirements on future deorbiting missions and identify suitable mission scenarios and targets. The contractors also had to develop a functional breadboard system including the design of a test campaign to validate its performance. This has required the development of models and simulations as well as practical experiments. The objective was to develop the harpoon concept and to investigate its interaction with its target. This activity, conducted by Airbus UK as prime contractor together with Cavendish Laboratory, the University of New South Wales and Brunel University gave some promising results. Its latest activity has covered a fundamental aspect of the concept: the interaction between the harpoon and the target. In recent years ESA has been researching the concept of a debris-catching harpoon with European space actors. Might a harpoon help solve this growing issue of debris in orbit? In lower orbits this would not pose too much of a problem, since they would probably reenter within the 25 year time limit.īut up in higher orbits, the failure of a certain proportion of megaconstellations might pose a real problem – and there are many more megaconstellation launches on the way. There is always a chance that any single satellite will go wrong, and as more are launched – in this dawning age of megaconstellations – the more will fail.
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