- NASA awarded an $850,000 contract to TransAstra for its flycatcher bag concept.
- Venus flytrap bags can be made large enough to scoop up space junk the size of a house.
- Space debris is a growing problem that endangers the lives of artificial satellites, spacecraft, and astronauts.
During the spaceflight, the astronauts heard a loud bang. He looked up and saw a piece of space junk embedded in the shuttle’s window.
If the debris had been larger, it could have been blown through the window and killed the entire crew, the astronaut told TransAstra founder and CEO Joel C. Circel. Ta.
“Space debris is one of the biggest dangers facing astronauts in low Earth orbit today,” Sarcel told Insider.
TransAstra recently $850,000 contract Sarcel said his company received a request from NASA to explore the possibility of removing space debris using a giant “capture bag” called Flytrap.
“It’s like picking up trash on the side of the highway,” Sarcel said.
However, it is much more complex and expensive.
Earth’s backyard is a giant trash can
As humanity expands into space, great disruption is occurring.
The European Space Agency estimates that more than 330 million pieces of space debris orbit Earth. Space debris can reach speeds of up to 17,500 miles per hour and pose a danger to astronauts, shuttles, and satellites.
Transastra’s flytrap bag was initially developed to capture asteroids, with the potential to mine rare elements in the future, Sercel said.
But the more Sarcel and his team looked into asteroid mining, “the more we became aware of the space debris problem and thought this was a really good solution to removing debris in orbit,” Sarcel told Insider. told.
Huge capture bag to clean up the mess
Transastra’s plan is to attach the bag to a small spacecraft that can fly with space debris in low Earth orbit.
Once in position, the spacecraft will deploy the bag and zip it shut to encase the space junk, Sarcel said.
To prevent bags from tearing, Transastra is testing bags made of Kevlar and other strong space-proven materials.
There are other methods proposed for collecting space debris, but they are often effective only for specific items, such as magnetic debris or debris that can be grabbed by robotic arms, Selcel said. said.
Capture bags, on the other hand, can pick up anything that goes inside.
“You can make a Venus flytrap that fits in a coffee cup and capture something the size of a watermelon, or you can make a giant Venus flytrap that can capture something the size of a house that weighs 1,000 tons,” Sarcel said. said.
biggest challenge
Dave Barnhart, a research professor at the University of South Carolina’s School of Space Engineering, told Insider that this approach to capturing space debris is “absolutely effective.”
TransAstra is not alone in this concept.
Bernhardt said the European Space Agency is planning an effort called ClearSpace-1 to use a similar approach to capture debris.
Clearspace-1 is scheduled to launch in 2026. Similarly, Sercel said Flytrap technology he said could be used in space within two years.
Barnhart, who is also CEO of Archis, which plans to build ports and outposts in space, said the biggest challenge is fuel costs.
“Using one spacecraft and one bag to go get a lot of stuff is a good idea, but it requires a lot of fuel,” Barnhart said.
He added that even though the debris is relatively close together, it is spread out over a very large space.
So far, Transastra has developed a patent-pending prototype and worked with NASA SBIR Ignite, a government entrepreneurship program, to prove the concept.
Sarcel said the company plans to build a full-scale prototype this year to fulfill a contract with NASA.
“No one doubts the scientific feasibility,” Selcel added. “What has to be demonstrated is the engineering feasibility of making it affordable.”
How to make it affordable
Ultimately, one way to offset costs is to recycle captured space junk to help build satellites and other objects in orbit.
“People paid a lot of money to get it off the ground in the first place,” Sarcel said. “Everything in the universe is inherently very valuable. If we can reuse it, it’s a win for everyone.”
Barnhart, whose company aims to build a space outpost, said recycling in space could become a reality within five to 10 years.
“All the pieces of the puzzle are there, but you have to create it,” he said.
As space exploration and the space industry expand, Sarcel said thinking ahead about debris will become even more important.
“Not leaving trash is part of being a good alien,” he said.
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