11–19 of 19 posts
Cant wait until, 45 years from now, when the first one of these are hacked and satellites are prematurely de-orbiting
How's this any different than hacking the main satellite and causing it to deorbit?
I'm pretty sure you don't need to de-orbit CubeSats manually. The drag on the satellite will slowly decay the orbit of CubeSats much faster then most satellites. We also already use "de-orbiting" systems in real satellites: we just burn their remaining fuel in the RCSs to either push them back into space (the normally talked about junk cloud) or we pull them into a decaying orbit (what already happens with CubeSats).…
> That's where D3 comes in. The device has independent power supply and communication systems. That means that D3 can deorbit a satellite even if the rest of the spacecraft is completely unresponsive, D-Orbit representatives said. Totally independent system to provide redundancy for de-orbit in case control to the main satellite is lost, which is a problem.
https://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/quarterly-news/newsletter...
I'm pretty sure you don't need to de-orbit CubeSats manually. The drag on the satellite will slowly decay the orbit of CubeSats much faster then most satellites. We also already use "de-orbiting" systems in real satellites: we just burn their remaining fuel in the RCSs to either push them back into space (the normally talked about junk cloud) or we pull them into a decaying orbit (what already happens with CubeSats).…
today we count something close to 1700 active satelite and dubling this number in a year (and maybe again the year after) it is a step that have to be done right, the first time because space is big but the good orbits are few; and a kessler syndrome scenario is possible. It is imaginable that to keep the whole carousel running, you need to be able to launch and dispose satellites quickly and safely.
And even though tethers are not exactly the quicker or safer system, there is a lot of work to be done and is interesting that PSLV C-38 launched many deorbiting devices.
I'm pretty sure you don't need to de-orbit CubeSats manually. The drag on the satellite will slowly decay the orbit of CubeSats much faster then most satellites. We also already use "de-orbiting" systems in real satellites: we just burn their remaining fuel in the RCSs to either push them back into space (the normally talked about junk cloud) or we pull them into a decaying orbit (what already happens with CubeSats).…
Also, many satellites are not deorbited. Most satellites in medium to high orbits, especially those in geostationary orbit, are moved into graveyard orbits near their end of life when they are still operational, but they lack sufficient propulsion to deorbit or bring their perigees low enough for their orbits to degrade in a meaningful amount of time.
The point of this experiment is to test out a device that doesn't add significant extra mass to a satellite but would be able to deorbit it in a timely manner after it has reached the end of its usefulness. This would be a big step in keeping Earth orbit clean from space junk and is a worthy research endeavor, especially considering the low costs involved.
I'm pretty sure you don't need to de-orbit CubeSats manually. The drag on the satellite will slowly decay the orbit of CubeSats much faster then most satellites. We also already use "de-orbiting" systems in real satellites: we just burn their remaining fuel in the RCSs to either push them back into space (the normally talked about junk cloud) or we pull them into a decaying orbit (what already happens with CubeSats).…
> That's where D3 comes in. The device has independent power supply and communication systems. That means that D3 can deorbit a satellite even if the rest of the spacecraft is completely unresponsive, D-Orbit representatives said. Totally independent system to provide redundancy for de-orbit in case control to the main satellite is lost, which is a problem.
My orbital dynamics knowledge is informed almost entirely from kerbal space program, but since the majority of satellites orbit with an eccentricity close to 0, shouldnt it be fairly simple to just do a radial-out burn and crash into the atmosphere, which generally does not require a huge deal of fuel.