Development of a new type of cosmic garbage collection system in Japan
space garbage refers to useless man-made objects running around the earth, which can easily cause danger to operating satellites and spaceships, and because of its large number, irregular distribution, how to recover and place it. Reason is always a difficult problem. Researchers at the Japanese Aerospace Development Research Institute (JAXA) are currently developing a network of recycling equipment to solve this problem once and for all.
this kind of processing equipment is called "space junk cleaning system", which is jointly developed by JAXA and a company called "Japan East network". The researchers envisaged that the rocket first launched a satellite with a "space garbage scavenging system" into a certain orbit, and then the long kilometer metal mesh equipment was covered by the satellite's robotic arm to cover the space garbage that was to be processed, and then the net and the satellite were removed. As the metal mesh equipment outside the space waste will run naturally around the earth, under the influence of the earth's magnetic field, the space garbage in the net will slowly decline and eventually burn up in the atmosphere.
this "space garbage removal system" is mainly made of aluminum and stainless steel fibers. The researchers intertwine these two materials into silver filaments of about one millimeter in diameter. They are not only conductive, but also very lightweight and soft. The whole system is a network structure made up of 3 such filaments, so that even if one is broken in the process of operation, it does not affect the structure strength of the whole system.
this system has the advantages of easy operation and relatively low cost, because it can make use of magnetic force to make it naturally fall into the atmosphere. Researchers also hope to use this method to "wipe out all the junk".