The problem of space debris cannot be solved if mission developers do not take a responsible approach to work. This point of view on the air of the MIR 24 television channel was expressed by Dmitry Pritykin, senior researcher at the Skoltech Space Center. He said that it is necessary to take into account when launching spacecraft.
“Let’s say you have a working device that is coming to the end of its service life, and you understand that for your service life you do not guarantee anything to anyone, turn on the engine and take the device to the burial orbit, which everyone has previously agreed on, which does not interfere with the activities of other devices. This is the perfect situation… As soon as the mission developers approach them responsibly, as soon as they provide for devices that, in the event of a breakdown, help to take the garbage to a safe place, everything will be fine, “he said.
According to Dmitry Pritykin, no one takes the problem seriously, since in the entire history of observations satellites collided in space once. The scientist spoke about ways to clear the orbit of debris.
“Your service life is running out and you can deploy the sail on the set. It begins to interact in low orbit with the Earth’s atmosphere, which is still felt in orbit, the sail increases the area, your orbit gradually decreases, and you get into the dense layers of the atmosphere, and there you burn… There are recommendations that within 25 years of service life, the device or stage should leave the densely populated layers of space where satellites need to be launched. Previously, very often missiles simply exploded due to the fact that fuel remains in them, and under certain conditions it fills volumes and explodes. They also agreed to issue this – a precaution, “Pritykin added.
In theory, missions are being worked out when a tugboat satellite collects garbage, catches it with nets, launches harpoons into it, and then drags them on a cable to a safe place, the scientist said.
Earlier it became known that the ISS once again had to dodge space debris. Dmitry Pritykin noted that the station has to make such maneuvers quite often – over the 20 years of the existence of the ISS there were about 30 such cases.
