2023-08-28 01:26:06
A small Brown University satellite successfully re-entered Earth’s atmosphere in August, demonstrating a practical and cheap method –$10,000– to reduce space debris.
Approximately five years ahead of schedule, the Brown University student-built satellite re-entered Earth’s atmosphere sometime on or immediately after Tuesday, August 8, burning in the vertical of Türkiye after 445 days in orbit.
Reduced budget
Called SBUDNIC, the satellite was built on a shoestring budget using supplies available at most hardware stores, including 48 Energizer AA batteries.
It was launched into space on Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket in May 2022 as part of the Transporter 5 rideshare mission and was designed to address the growing problem of space junk. To do this, students added a key feature to the loaf-sized cube satellite: a plastic drag sail made of Kapton polyimide.
The sail opened like an umbrella as it unfolded to about 520 kilometersfar above the orbit of the International Space Station, and helped push the satellite back to Earth faster than anticipated.
“Deorbit Space Junk”
“We were trying to show that there are ways to deorbit space junk after the end of the mission lifetime that aren’t very expensive,” he said in a statement. announcement Selia Jindal, who graduated from Brown in May and was one of the leaders of the project. “This proved that we can do it. We were able to successfully deorbit our satellite so that it no longer takes up space in Earth’s orbit. More importantly, the project really helped show that there are important plans that we can implement to combat the problem of space junk and that are profitable“.
A successful proof-of-concept could have far-reaching impacts on efforts to reduce space debris, which poses a potential hazard to all current and future spacecraft. This is especially poignant considering the total cost of the student-designed CubeSat: about $10,000.
“There are companies that are trying to solve this space junk problem with concepts like space cranes or nets in space that will capture space junk and take it out of orbit,” said Dheraj Ganjikunta, a 2022 Brown graduate who was the main managing director of the program. “The amazing thing about SBUDNIC is that it is much lower in cost than any of those solutions.. Instead of pulling junk out of space when it becomes a problem, we have this $30 drag device that you can launch onto satellites and dramatically reduce the time they spend in space.”
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