Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
 |
Comments on Terminator Tether - EDT Solution To Space Debris Update
Studies have shown that low Earth orbit is not a limitless resource and should be managed more carefully. Some sort of debris-mitigation measures are needed to solve the problem of old, unusable satellites and space junk. (Read
the complete story)
| "TUI tested their concepts on Zero Gravity Corporation's modified 727, the G-FORCE ONE. If you are interested in conducting microgravity research, log onto http://www.NoGravity.com" (Tim Bailey 11/17/2004 9:40:38 PM) |
| "How likely is this technology to be more reliable and work at the end of a satellite's life than a de-orbit burn from a simple rocket? How does it's mass compare to that of the rocket?" (Jerry Hollombe 12/4/2004 10:11:44 PM) |
| "Great questions, Jerry; here are the answers from Dr. Robert Hoyt: 1. How likely is this technology to be more reliable and work at the end of >a satellite's life than a de-orbit burn from a simple rocket? The rocket itself can be quite simple, but remember that in order to deorbit a spacecraft using a rocket, you have to aim the rocket in the right direction. That means that the satellite's attitude determination & control, power, processing, and other systems all need to be highly functional, which isn't often the case at the satellite's end-of-life. The Terminator Tether is being designed to be very reliable after a long on-orbit storage time. This drives its cost up somewhat, but that is still much less expensive than designing the whole spacecraft to have the reliability to have everything working after a 5 or 10 year lifetime. 2. How does it's mass compare to that of the rocket? Depends upon the orbit and how quickly you want to bring the satellite down, but it can be a substantial savings. Bringing down a LEO satellite using a solid rocket can require 5-20% of the spacecraft's mass be reserved for deorbit fuel. A Terminator Tether will typically mass just 1% of the spacecraft mass. The mass 'savings' can be reallocated to fuel for longer operation or other uses." (Bill Christensen 12/13/2004 1:13:34 PM) |
| "I notice the diagram for the tether has a "shroud" component. Presumably this must be jettisoned before the tether can be deployed creating an additional piece of space junk?" (Josh 12/14/2004 8:56:44 PM) |
| "So what is the chance of the tether colliding with some other object and causing more junk, after all your space craft now has a 5 Km tail?" (Stan Clark 5/23/2005 4:48:05 AM) |
| "Can this same technology be used to tweak the plane of an orbit, by deploying the line at right angles to the direction of travel?" (David Atwater 5/23/2005 3:41:14 PM) |
| "I'm a space nut, been interested since i could read. I learned many things from this story. THANKS" (bob wysong sr 5/28/2005 12:20:07 PM) |
| "it's so gross how all this junk is orbiting around Earth!" (kale 5/20/2006 10:58:51 AM) |
| "whoever mentioned the shroud having to be removed should have looked closer, it appears to just be the housing, since it is open at one end, i guess they called it a shroud" ( 6/21/2006 12:55:05 AM) |
| "Why not store in hole of shuttle on return trip" (Roger Newell 9/8/2006 12:32:44 PM) |
Get more information on Terminator Tether - EDT Solution To Space Debris Update
Leave a comment:
Tediously, spammers have returned; if you have a comment, send it to bill at this site (include the story name) and I'll post it.
More Articles
Chaffeur Robot Musashi Will Drive Your Regular Car
'What would you do,' Eric asked the robot cabdriver, 'if your wife had turned to stone, your best friend were a toad, and you had lost your job?'
Space Exporers! Now, You Can Drink Your Own Urine
'those suits they wear -- call them 'stillsuits' -- that reclaim the body's own water...'
SpaceX EVA Spacesuit Tested By Polaris Dawn Crew
'Now, except for weight and heat, the same conditions prevail in this chamber as in space.'
Automatic Bot Traffic Is 38 Percent Of HTTP Requests
'there were so many worms and counterworms loose in the data-net...'
Shanghai Guidelines For Humanoid Robots
'Now, look, let's start with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics...'
Desktop TARS Robot From Interstellar
What's YOUR sarcasm setting?
Robots Can Now Have Smiling Faces With Human Skin
'I am a cybernetic organism...'
Virtual Rat Predicts Actual Rat Neural Activity
'..the synthetic intellects at the Place of Knowledge had far outstripped the minds of men.'
GoSun EV Solar Charger Drapes Onto Your Car
'...six square yards of sunpower screens.'
Rizon 4 Ironing Robot
'But after washing and drying clothes had to be smooth - free from fine lines and wrinkles ...'
Cognify - A Prison Of The Mind We've Seen Before In SF
'So I serve a hundred years in one day...'
Robot With Human Brain Organoid - 'A Thrilling Story Of Mechanistic Progress'
'A human brain snugly encased in a transparent skull-shaped receptacle.'
Goodness Gracious Me! Google Tries Face Recognition Security
'The actuating mechanism that should have operated by the imprint of her image on the telephoto cell...'
With Mycotecture, We'll Just Grow The Space Habitats We Need
'The only real cost was in the plastic balloon that guided the growth of the coral and enclosed the coral's special air-borne food.'
Can A Swarm Of Deadly Drones Take Out An Aircraft Carrier?
'The border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.'
WiFi and AI Team Up To See Through Walls
'The pitiless M rays pierced Earth and steel and densest concrete as if they were so much transparent glass...'
Climate Engineering In California Could Make Europe's Heat Waves Worse
'Pina2bo would have to operate full blast for many years to put as much SO2 into the stratosphere as its namesake had done in a few minutes.'
Optimus Robot Will Be A Good Nanny, Says Musk
'Nanny is different,' Tom Fields murmured... 'she's not like a machine. She's like a person.'
ESA To Build Moon Bases Brick By Printed LEGO Brick
'We made a crude , small cell and were delighted - and, I admit, somewhat surprised - to find it worked.'
Does The Shortage Of Human Inputs Limit AI Development?
'...we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
