11,500 tons of metal rotate around the Land. That is the mass of the more than 17,000 satellites that man has launched into space pursuing different objectives: telecommunications, observation, meteorological and military, among others. However, many of them – around 2,500 – are dead, that is, they orbit our planet out of control once inoperative. In other words, they have become space junk.
The waste generated by the increasingly numerous stellar missions is one of the biggest concerns of the sector, not only because of its desire to become sustainable the study of the cosmos, but because of the damage that metal particles can cause when they impact, at a speed of seven kilometers per second, against expensive space technology. In fact, the European Space Agency (ESA) has tightened its waste management policy and now forces those responsible for satellites to eliminate them within the five years following his deathwhen before it gave a period of 25 years to do so.
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For this reason, ESA has trusted the Spanish company GMV to design a system capable of clean space of satellites out of service. The company, based in Tres Cantos (Madrid), gave a demonstration this Thursday to a group of journalists, among whom was Infobae Spainfrom your system catthe technology you have worked on for the last two years and invested in about a million eurosa sum that, GMV assures, arouses the envy of other firms in the sector given the capabilities achieved with such a low budget.
Roughly, cat (cat, in English) is a claw capable of catching satellites which is mounted on a space vehicle capable of approaching, in a synchronized and safe manner, its prey. This ship, still to be developed, “will be able to estimate the position of the dead satellite to correctly approach it”, something vital for the success of the mission, given that “the deceased system is not cooperative, it cannot perform maneuvers or provide information some”, as explained Fernando Gandiahead of the Robotics and Onboard Autonomy section at GMV.
After the capture, cat will lead the discarded satellite back to Earth, detaching itself from it once gravity begins to drag it towards the earth’s surface. Upon entering the atmosphere, the system will disintegrate. For its part, cat It will remain in space ready to take more captures. “In order for the system to be efficient, if I were an operator who wanted to provide this service, I would try to ensure that it could be reused between five and ten times,” he noted. Mariella Grazianodirector of strategy and business development for Science, Exploration and Transportation at GMV.
However, in order for cat can carry out its task, the satellites will have to be equipped with the other part of the system: mice (mouse, in English), the anchor to which the claw must attach to carry out its mission. In this sense, Graziano has highlighted that four of the six new satellites of the program Copernicus of ESA will integrate mice to, when the time comes, facilitate its elimination. GMV wanted to demonstrate that its commitment to sustainability of space activity is serious, so they have liberalized the design of mice so that it can be built without the need for your authorization. “The standardization lowers costs”, assured Graziano, about one of the advantages of allowing the free manufacture of the mice.
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In the absence of more studies on the ground, GMV expects that demonstration tests of its design in space can be carried out at the end of 2027, which would make Spain a pioneer regarding space cleanup in Europe. To achieve this milestone, the company intends to lead this ESA project, whose tender will be launched in two weeks. GMV plans to partner with up to seven other EU countries, one of which must be in charge of developing the vehicle into which it is integrated. cat. The Spanish firm has presented a proposal that amounts to 50 million eurosagain a figure well below what the European Space Agency usually spends on its initiatives.
