China Successfully Removes Space Junk Through ‘Drag Sail Technology’

China has made new advancements in managing space junk with the successful deployment of a 25 square meter deorbiting sail for the payload capsule of a recently launched rocket using drag sail technology.

The Global Times learned on Tuesday from the system developers that this was the first time a deorbiting sail system had ever been used in such a way.

China Successfully Eliminated Space Junk Via Drag Sail Technology

Chinese researchers successfully deployed a drag sail to deorbit a recently launched Long March 2 rocket, according to an announcement made on Wednesday by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (via Curiousmos). The occasion marked the first time a rocket was used in such an experiment.

When fully extended, the drag sail, which resembles a kite, covers an area of 25 square meters (269 square feet). Its thickness is only one-tenth of a human hair's diameter, but that didn't stop it from accelerating the orbital decay of the 300 kg (661 lb) rocket's final stage and increasing atmospheric drag.

Every kind of low-Earth orbit satellite that has degraded into space junk can be used drag sails, which are a low-cost and established technology solution. They are lightweight and extremely flexible so that they can be folded up and mounted on a spaceship before launch.

They automatically unfold once they are close to the debris, helping to return the spacecraft to the atmosphere, where it will break up. As opposed to letting junk deorbit naturally, which could take years or decades, drag sails are a much faster alternative.

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Space Debris Problem

An estimate of 1,950 satellites are currently in operation, while the rest have degraded into debris, according to Interesting Engineering.

Also mentioned by Interesting Engineering was the orbital launch of 8,950 satellites. Even though they are past the end of their useful lives and have no further use, about 5,000 satellites are still in orbit.

Back in March 2022, a piece of a Chinese space rocket that had likely been involved in a launch in October 2014 was drifting aimlessly through space when it crashed into the moon.

Fortunately, no one was hurt in the collision, but if the debris had reached the International Space Station, it could have done serious harm.

A new strategy for removing space trash was developed in November 2021 by a team of mechanical engineers under the direction of professor Jake J. Abbott from the University of Utah.

This strategy uses spinning magnets to control orbital debris, making it simpler to handle and collect them. The novel idea involved exposing the debris to a fluctuating magnetic field, which circulates the metal debris's electrons in charged loops.