Recycling Space Debris
$ 42.5
Description
Space debris, or as often called “space junk” accounts for non-useful, artificial materials and pieces floating in space. With a chemical composition of polymers, non metal debris, metals and alloys, oxides, sulfides, carbides and halides, this ‘debris’ comes from many sources - the most common of them being spacecraft and satellites. Data results from 1957 to 2022 show that all together, the world’s annual average of objects launched in space (including probes and landers) surpasses 2000, with the United States being the biggest contributor at 1800 objects launched annually. These objects, when going through collision, breakage, or failure of tenure tend to break apart into small pieces, forming a cycle of revolution around the earth’s orbit. Is it possible to create a machine that captures this threat to human space exploration? Something that combines magnetism with net capturing capabilities? The Electromagnetic-Net Carrier is a machine that operates on the collaboration of electromagnetic and hardware engineering domains. It combines properties of net control, capture and release as well as magnetic attraction. The objective of the research is to explore and understand what it takes to create space resourceful for scientists and safe for astronauts.