Scientists Develop Realistic Tractor Beam to Clean Up Space Junk

Once their machine is on, it can “pick up debris without ever touching it”.

Straight from Star Trek

A team of engineers is working on a realistic “tractor beam,” a basic sci-fi device in space that can push and pull objects remotely without contact.

Impressively, their initial design concepts seem to actually work, with the researchers calculating that they can move a multi-ton object at a speed—very slowly indeed—of about 200 miles over two to three months.

“We create electrostatic forces that either attract or repel,” says Hanspeter Schaub, chair of the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. pers conference. “It’s similar to the tractor beams you see in the Star Trek movies, although it’s not as strong.”

While it’s still far from being a viable space prototype, a realistic tractor pack could eventually become an invaluable tool to help clean up the space junk contaminating Earth’s increasingly crowded orbit—not to mention one of those rare moments when actual technology seems to do it. would make its way into science fiction in the golden age.

Opposite attraction

The researchers experimented with their design using a large special vacuum chamber that simulated the conditions of space.

Their favorite concept, something called “electrostatic attraction,” uses somewhat the same principle that makes a balloon stick to your hair after you rub it on your head.

In theory, at about 50 to 90 feet, a spacecraft could use the device to shoot a beam of electrons at a large chunk of space junk, creating a negative charge on the debris while generating a positive charge on the service ship. gradually bringing them together.

“With that pulling force, you can basically pull up the debris without touching it,” said Julien Hammerl, a CU Boulder aeronautical engineer who was involved in the research. “It behaves like what we call a virtual rope.”

Izin real state

The problem of space junk should not be underestimated. According to Schaub, geosynchronous orbit (GEO), a highly desirable area of ​​space where satellites can remain in a geostationary position, is already running out of real estate.

“Geo is like Bel Air spaceship,” explains Schaub.

Additionally, NASA recently reaffirmed the seriousness of the space junk problem in A March reportwho concluded that gently nudging the debris, rather than completely removing it from orbit, might be a more practical solution.

Easier said than done, and according to the researchers, physical contact with debris is a potential hazard, which makes tractor beams a – shall we say – an attractive option.

“Touching objects in outer space is very dangerous,” explained Kylie Champion, one of the researchers involved in the CU Boulder project. “Things move very quickly and are often unpredictable.”

The tractor beam can also be a much cheaper cleaning tool, Schaub adds, because a vehicle equipped with one can move “dozens of things over its lifetime.”

“This lowers costs significantly,” he added. No one wants to spend a billion dollars moving trash.

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