Airbus to test sat-stabilizing 'Detumbler' to simplify astro-garbage disposal
- Reference: 1700123345
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/11/16/airbus_launches_satellite_stabilizing_detumbler/
- Source link:
Dubbed the [1]Detumbler , the device was developed in 2021 by Airbus alongside the French Space Agency (CNES). One of the minuscule 100-gram devices launched into orbit last weekend aboard SpaceX's Transporter-9 "rideshare" mission for small payloads. Airbus [2]advised the Detumbler will be tested in early 2024 on a nanosatellite from Exotrail.
Decommissioned satellites often start tumbling or spinning, which makes them hard to catch and move out of harm's way.
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Hence the need for the Detumbler, which Airbus and CNES [4]describe [PDF] as a "passive magnetic damping device [that can be] attached to a satellite's structure." Once affixed, the device "dissipates the kinetic energy and angular momentum thanks to eddy currents resulting from differential angular rates between the satellite and the Earth's magnetic field, eventually stopping the tumbling motion."
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The devices are completely mechanical and require no power, an Airbus spokesperson told The Register .
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The Airbus Detumbler – Click to enlarge
Airbus and CNES researchers note in their paper that the Detumbler, which has a rotor diameter of just five centimeters (1.9 inches), should be capable of eliminating tumbling motion in medium-to-large satellites "within just a few weeks, while also preventing self-tumbling." The team notes that this is "a game-changer for active debris removal."
The device is designed to handle satellites with a mass of up to 1.5 tonnes "covering more than 95 percent of the current distribution of satellites in flight."
"The demonstration satellite is a 8U cubesat. However, we have the capability to adapt the sizing of the detumbler according to inertia and the orbit of the satellite to detumble. This sizing only concerns the size of the magnets of the rotor, the size/weight of rotor and stator remains the same whatever the satellite," an Airbus spokesperson told The Register .
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It's unclear whether a Detumbler could simply be slapped onto an existing satellite, or whether it would have to be part of one at launch – Airbus didn't answer all our questions before publication. The device is mentioned as having an application during normal satellite operations, when it would "act like a compass following the magnetic field" to keep satellites oriented.
Of course, the Detumbler's effectiveness hasn't been proven yet, which is why Airbus has partnered with EnduroSat and Exotrail to test one in orbit early next year. EnduroSat [9]revealed it has received signals from all five of the satellites it sent up with Transporter-9.
[10]Astroscale wants to be the world's friendly neighborhood space garbage collector
[11]ESA funds space weather satellite swarm to understand and combat orbital debris
[12]Tool bag lost in space now tracked by garbage watchers
[13]FAA wants rocket jockeys to clean up after their space launch parties
"More than 100 million pieces of human-made space debris are circling our planet … It has become critical to solve this problem," an Airbus representative explained in a [14]video posted to Instagram that discusses the Detumbler.
Case in point: a 112kg rocket part orbiting Earth for a decade, which has been targeted for a future cleanup mission, was [15]struck by another object in August 2023, luckily doing minimal damage.
Swarms of satellites have been launched in recent years, forcing manufacturers like Amazon to include countermeasures to help them [16]dodge orbiting garbage – the smallest chunks of which can still do [17]serious damage . ®
Get our [18]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.airbus.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-11-airbus-patented-detumbler-to-tackle-in-orbit-debris
[2] https://twitter.com/AirbusSpace/status/1724353609515569497
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZVX2W9171DXryty8EmEczQAAAJQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://regmedia.co.uk/2023/11/15/airbus-detumbler-paper.pdf
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZVX2W9171DXryty8EmEczQAAAJQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZVX2W9171DXryty8EmEczQAAAJQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://regmedia.co.uk/2023/11/15/airbus-detumbler.jpg
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZVX2W9171DXryty8EmEczQAAAJQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.endurosat.com/news/endurosat-launches-5-satellites-via-transporter-9/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/16/space_junk_wef_astroscale/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/06/esa_space_debris_swarm/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/14/tool_bag_iss/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/22/faa_orbital_debris_rules/
[14] https://www.instagram.com/reel/CydXjK4M726/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/23/space_debris_targeted_for_groundbreaking/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/10/amazon_project_kuiper_thrusters/
[17] https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Operations/Space_debris_assessing_the_risk#:~:text=Smaller%20debris%20range%20from%20microscopic,sufficiently%20robust%20to%20defeat%20these.
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
It's unclear whether a Detumbler could simply be slapped onto an existing satellite, or whether it would have to be part of one at launch
It would cost about as much to launch a mission to attach a Detumbler to an existing satellite, as it would to launch a space tug to just deorbit that satellite directly. Since the satellite fitted with a Detumbler would still need a subsequent mission to deorbit it, and the Detumbler would have to be fitted before the satellite started tumbling, it would seem to make little sense to consider trying to attach them to satellites already on orbit.
However fitting them in new satellites seems like a no-brainer if they work, what with companies starting to get sued for failing to dispose of their failed satellites correctly.
Magnetorque Coil
This is just a magnetorque coil plus some marketing.
Re: Magnetorque Coil
For small values of "just".
I would strongly propose that this is an Item for future satellites, to be attached to them before launch.
Evidence:
Number 1 - it has a hole pattern at the base (and screws) for attachment. You cannot apply such a pattern to an object already in space.
Number 2 - the magnets are used for the detumbling operation and not for attachment. (There is very little ferrous material used in a Satellite, so magnetic attachment would be all but impossible anyway. Most Satellite structures are Aluminium).
Number 3 - the cost of sending up a Tumbler with some sort of propulsive aircraft to fly it to a piece of space junk would be phenomenal!
From my reading on this, this is a small light item that just works to stop an end of life satellite from spinning out of control, so that a future deorbiting mission can come and collect the defunct satellite. Work is definitely still needed on that second part, but this would definitely help to make that easier. (Plus if it can be used for a bit of standard attitude control in a normal mission, then it will prolong satellite life, and that should help to make it cost/weight/space effective to actual install...)
We're talking about space junk, right ?
" It's unclear whether a Detumbler could simply be slapped onto an existing satellite "
If we're talking about space junk, I would hope that this Detumbler is supposed to fix on existing junk. A satellite that is still functional has attitude control, and thus doesn't need a Detumbler.
That said, Airbus hasn't said how it is supposed to get the Detumbler on the cubesat for the test, but I hope that said Detumbler will launch after the cubesat, to catch up with it somehow and latch on magnetically. If it can indeed orient itself, lock on target and basically dock, then it would be a massive success and we could start thinking about sending scores of Detumblers to help bring the junk down.
Of course, that sounds too good to be true, so . . .