Japanese space lasers aim to clean up orbital junk
- Reference: 1706726715
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/01/31/japan_laser_space_junk_plan/
- Source link:
[1]Orbital Lasers is a startup backed by Japanese satellite operator [2]SKY Perfect JSAT as a space debris removal service. If all goes to plan, the fledgling outfit aims to start operating sometime during 2029, .
The technology required for this service has been jointly designed and the operator and Japan's renowned [3]Riken research institute, and is designed to operate by using laser ablation.
[4]
Orbital's satellite payload is designed to emit a laser beam that can vaporize part of the surface of the targeted space debris, and it is the impulse from the vaporized material that the company intends to use to detumble a rotating object if necessary, and then decelerate it so that it slowly sinks towards Earth and burns up.
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The company claims that this is a safe method of dealing with orbital junk because it avoids any physical contact with other objects, many of which are moving at some 7.5 km per second, or about 16,777 mph. As fuel is not expended in moving the target debris either, Orbital also claims it can deliver results with lower operating costs than alternative methods.
[7]
Orbital Lasers concept (Credit: CSKY Perfect JSAT Corporation)
A [8]previously mooted system for dealing with orbital junk proposed using a ground-based laser to apply enough energy to push a satellite or other object away from dangerous orbits.
President and CEO Tadanori Fukushima said in a statement that Orbital Lasers aims to develop a prototype to demonstrate the viability of this method for removing space debris by 2027.
The company hopes to attract interest from both domestic and foreign organizations engaged in the removal of space debris, Fukushima added.
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SKY Perfect JSAT said that the issue of space debris is a growing concern for it as a satellite operator, and should be regarded as an environmental problem comparable in significance to issues such as global warming or marine plastic pollution.
[10]Tiny bits of space junk reveal their wherabouts when they collide, boffins hope
[11]Airbus to test sat-stabilizing 'Detumbler' to simplify astro-garbage disposal
[12]Europe eyes skies with aim to track space junk and boost orbital operations
[13]ESA funds space weather satellite swarm to understand and combat orbital debris
It said that with the formation of Orbital Lasers, it was aiming to address this concern.
Last year, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) [14]proposed rules for commercial space launch companies to try to limit the growth in orbital debris. It estimates that the number of orbital objects 10 cm or greater in size is estimated to be over 23,000, with half a million objects between 1 and 10 cm, and upwards of 100 million objects larger than 1 mm.
However, putting into orbit a space-borne laser powerful enough to damage other satellites might be seen as a step too far. It doesn't take much imagination to see how such a payload could be abused to attack other orbiting satellites.
Even if Orbital Lasers has no intention of allowing such a thing to happen, the mere threat could draw a pre-emptive strike. Chinese researchers have already mooted using [15]lasers or high-power microwaves to disable potentially hostile satellites, with Starlink's growing communications constellation the envisioned target.
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But this isn't the only use to which Orbital Lasers hopes to put its technology. The company aims to develop space-based Lidar (light detection and ranging) technology for satellites, and said it hopes to become the world's first commercial provider of high-precision surface data.
The intention is to use Lidar to create detailed, three-dimensional maps of parts of the Earth's surface for applications such as development planning and infrastructure design, cargo monitoring, or assessing vegetation density in areas like the Amazon.
SKY Perfect JSAT said it has signed a contract with [17]JAXA , the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, for a conceptual study of Lidar satellites and their future commercialization, with Orbital Lasers undertaking the study. ®
Get our [18]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.orbitallasers.com/index2.html
[2] https://www.skyperfectjsat.space/en/
[3] https://www.riken.jp/en/
[4] 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=2ZbrRFyk7BS90zuXJZOLwTAAAAQk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[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=44ZbrRFyk7BS90zuXJZOLwTAAAAQk&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=33ZbrRFyk7BS90zuXJZOLwTAAAAQk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://regmedia.co.uk/2024/01/31/lasersatellite1.jpg
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2013/04/29/eos_proposes_space_laser_move_junk/
[9] 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=44ZbrRFyk7BS90zuXJZOLwTAAAAQk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/05/space_debris_orbit/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/16/airbus_launches_satellite_stabilizing_detumbler/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/01/europe_space_tracking/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/06/esa_space_debris_swarm/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/22/faa_orbital_debris_rules/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/27/china_defence_research_starlink_countermeasures/
[16] 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=33ZbrRFyk7BS90zuXJZOLwTAAAAQk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[17] https://global.jaxa.jp/
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
This is laudable
because none of us want an LEO full of high-speed crap... but I hope they have something to keep the laser pointed *above* the horizon.
(And a sufficiently large tank for the sharks, of course.)
Re: This is laudable
The laser isn't destroying the space debris/junk, it's causing it to decelerate so that it burns up in the atmosphere. So, it probably (famous last words?) wouldn't have the power to reach the surface and/or do any significant damage. And of all the various governments of the world, Japan is probably one of the more trustworthy on this particular front. Post-WWII they've banned themselves from having any kind of offensive military force.
This one sparks joy.
Space lasers spark joy.
But are they Jewish
Certain members of the US Congress want to know!
https://www.newsweek.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-jewish-space-laser-mockery-1565325
If you can knock down space junk
You can knock down or at least damage stuff that's supposed to be there.
You think China will be happy that Japan has this capability? What would our reaction be if China or Russia did, or worse Iran or North Korea?
Now maybe the US/China already have something like this, no one is going to make that public if they can avoid it. But the more countries that have this capability, the more likely it is used and causes warfare to move to space. Which would create a LOT more orbital debris that needs knocking down...
Re: If you can knock down space junk
Again, per TFA, this isn't a laser that's going to vaporize the debris -- at least not directly -- it'll just cause it to lose some speed so that it falls out of orbit and burns up in the atmosphere. Which probably will give it an upper limit on how big a bit of debris it can presumably knock out of orbit. It's probably at least within the realm of possibility that it could be used to cause a functional satellite to be moved out of alignment, maybe even crash into another satellite, but this isn't some Bond villain style weapon where they can blow shit up in space or be used to target cities in an enemy country. We already have terrestrial rockets that can destroy satellites in orbit which would cost a lot less. Think it was China just blew up a satellite with one of these a year or so ago.
I'm curious how much of a concern will be created by the abladed material. At least the defunct satellite is observable and (hopefully) predictable.
(I suspect that if I asked that of the men and women working on this system, exactly zero of them would respond by slapping their forehead and exclaiming "holy crap Mr. AC, we never thought of that!")