Space debris Junk hunting

搜寻太空垃圾

The second CubeSat will test the sensors of RemoveDEBRIS. This trial will use cameras and a lidar (an optical version of radar) aboard the mothership to build up a detailed three-dimensional image of the object. If that works it will permit future clean-up vehicles to recognise what they are dealing with, and react appropriately.

立方体卫星进行的第二项试验将是测试垃圾清理探测器。这项试验将使用搭载于母卫星上的相机和雷达（定制的光学雷达）来为目标构建一个三维图像。如果这项试验成功，将使得后续的清理卫星能够分辨出所清理的垃圾形态，以便其处理。

In the third experiment, Remove-DEBRIS will extend a 1.5-metre-long arm that holds a 10cm-square target. It will then fire a harpoon at the target. The idea is that harpoons could be used to pierce some items of space debris and, like the net in the first experiment, then haul them in. The final experiment is intended to ensure that RemoveDEBRIS and its captured items do not themselves become space junk. The mother ship will deploy a ten square-metre plastic membrane, supported by four carbon-fibre booms, to act as a “drag sail” that will employ the limited atmosphere at this altitude to pull the craft downward to the fiery death of re-entry.

在第三项试验中，垃圾清理器将伸展出 1.5 米长的手臂手臂前端有一个 10 厘米长度的立方体目标。届时会向这个目标发射一个鱼叉。其意义在于这个鱼叉将用于刺住打孔垃圾，正如在第一项试验中的渔网一样，然后将垃圾拉回来。最后一项试验是为了确保这个垃圾清理器以及其所捕捉的太空垃圾本身不会成为太空垃圾。母卫星将展开一面十平方米的塑料膜，由四个碳纤维吊杆支撑，这个塑料膜将扮演“海锚”的角色，通过利用在这个高度存在的微薄大气来讲飞船拉入烈焰般的重入大气层。

If space-debris capture systems like this succeed, then future missions could start to go after some of the most worrying bits of junk. Such ventures could be commercial, according to Guglielmo Aglietti, director of the Surrey Space Centre, if governments (probably acting collectively) were willing to pay to keep space clean so as not to damage their own activities and those of their citizens. There are already guidelines to try to limit the accumulation of space junk. Defunct satellites should be disposed of within 25 years, either by being tipped into re-entry or parked in an out-of-the way “graveyard” orbit. But the rules are not always followed and a lot of older debris remains in orbit. A bounty on removing the most threatening hulks might even see the launch of a new space business.

如果这套太空垃圾捕获系统能够成功，那么在未来的任务将会开始清理那些最让人担心的太空垃圾。Surrey Space Centre 的局长 Guglielmo Aglietti 表示，如果政府愿意花钱来保持太空的清洁以避免其危害政府的太空活动以及民间的太空活动，那么清理太空垃圾的任务可以变得商业化。目前已经有了针对限制太空垃圾增加的行动准则。失效的卫星应当在 25 年之内完成清理工作，要么让其重返大气层，要么将其停在“坟场”轨道。但是这些准备并没有得到有效遵循，同样还有很多历史垃圾停留在轨道上。一项用于清理威胁性最大的太空垃圾奖金甚至可能依法一门新的太空生意。