SPACE DEBRIS & ITS HAZARDS ON SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS

-A GPS based debris remova s!s"em HO# DOES IT A$$ECT% Thousands of nuts, bolts, gloves and other debris from space missions form an orbiting garbage dump around Earth, presenting a hazard to spacecraft. Some of the bits and pieces scream along at 17,500 mph. Small jun , some of it created b! roc et e"plosions, can rip holes in a spacecraft or disable a satellite b! causing electrical shorts that result from clouds of superheated gas, called plasma, that are sometimes generated in an impact. The ris of satellites being hit b! debris is increasing at an alarming rate. The solar panels present in the satellites are ver! delicate. So even ver! small size debris could be a cause for the malfunctioning of the panel, #hich in turn ma! interrupt the efficienc! of the data transfer. $n communication s!stems the satellites usuall! are grouped into net#or s. $f a satellite is being hit b! big debris then there is ever! possibilit! of it losing its abilit! to function properl!. This ma! brea the communication net#or leading to large amount of financial and material loss for a certain amount of time until a replacement is made. The most space debris created b! a spacecraft%s destruction #as due to the upper stage of a &egasus roc et launched in 1''(. $ts e"plosion in 1'') generated a cloud of some *00,000 fragments bigger than ( mm and 700 among them #ere big enough to be catalogued. This e"plosion alone doubled the +ubble Space Telescope collision ris . To prove this #e have found a , inch hole in the +ubble. Even a spec of paint from

a satellite dug a pit in a space shuttle #indo# nearl! a -uarter inch #ide. The replacement #as made at the cost of .50,000.

This graph shows the alarming trend of the growth of the space debris field

POSSIBLE STEPS TO REMO&E SPACE 'UN( There are -uite a lot of protot!pes to avoid the space jun issue. /s engineers #e must have the responsibilit! in eeping our environment clean, #hich includes space also. Some of the proposed techni-ues to reduce or eliminate the manmade debris are given belo#0 /ttaching roc et motors to debris &reventing the satellites b! maneuvering and shielding techni-ues Electrod!namic tether.

1e propose our ideas to eliminate the debris using radiation pressure b! the follo#ing methods. 2eceleration of debris using the radiation pressure of laser beams.
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4ocussing of sunlight 5lensing6 on the debris and decelerating it.

ATTACHING ROC(ET MOTORS TO THE DEBRIS +uge debris li e the dead satellites, spent roc et stages, bigger fragments of the satellite brea ups are decelerated using roc et motors attached to them. / roc et motor is attached to the debris using a space shuttle mission from the earth7 the motor is triggered at a direction opposite to the movement of the debris. Thus the velocit! of the jun reduces and its altitude decreases. The debris is brought do#n to the earth8s atmosphere #here it is burned up due to friction. /s this method needs a separate space mission to send the re-uired components to perform the operation, it is ver! costl!. 9oc et motors can be stored in the $nternational Space Station and can be used to bring dead satellites do#n. This #ould be cheaper and more efficient. SATELLITE MANEU&ERING AND SHIELDING The modern satellites and space probes that are to be launched in the future must have various t!pe of manoeuvring options so that it escapes from being hit b! a jun that is unable to be detected b! the ground based radars. $t must be designed in such a #a! that it can #ithstand h!pervelocit! impacts of small pieces of debris. The #hole satellite cannot be maneuvered as the communication signals might get interrupted. So the functional part of the satellite should be shielded in order to protect it from the impact of small debris. 1hile the delicate parts li e the solar cell panels should be maneuverable. ELECTROD)NAMIC TETHER

:ne of the latest developments in the space jun removal program is that of the introduction of the electrod!namic tether. The tether is a conducting #ire that is several tens of ilometers in length and is controlled b! a spacecraft. / tether is essentiall! just something used to tie one object to another. :n Earth, tethers are

generall! used to eep something in place. $n space, ho#ever, tethers could serve several useful purposes.

A tether deployed from a rocket stage /ccording to farada!%s la# #hen a current carr!ing conductor cuts a magnetic field, forces are developed in the conductor, #hich is in the direction to oppose the cause of its movement. /s the long #ire of an electrod!namic tether passes through Earth%s magnetic field, it sets up a voltage along the tether. This voltage ma es electrons flo# do#n the tether, li e #ater flo#ing do#n a pipe. $f the tether has the right s!stems to allo# it to collect and emit electrons, then an electrical current 5the flo# of electrons6 #ill move through the tether. /n! time an electrical current flo#s in a magnetic field, there is a force developed and this force is used to maneuver the tether. The energ! re-uired b! the tether is collected from the sun through the solar panels. / small vehicle called the space sheepdog accompanies the tether* This space sheepdog is released near a piece of debris, fl!ing around it loo ing for a suitable point to latch onto. :nce the debris is attached to the space sheepdog it brings it to the tether and gets connected #ith it. /t that moment the current in the tether is made to

flo# in a direction such that the tether is brought do#n into sub orbital levels along #ith the debris. Thus the debris is deorbited. The tether is once again raised to higher altitudes b! changing the current direction. Thus the tether can be reused for man! times to clear the debris. MOMENTUM TRANS$ER MECHANISM USING TETHER /s the altitude of the space satellites increases the ris of collision #ith debris

decreases. The tether apart from decelerating the debris particles can also perform other functions li e increasing the satellites altitude b! using the momentum of the jun . The tether is attached to the spacecraft at one end and jun at the other. ;! carefull! controlling the forces produced on the tether the t#o masses are set to rotating about each other. 9eleasing the spacecraft at the appropriate moment #ould send it to a higher orbit #hile the jun ends up in a lo#er orbit. Various views of a momentum exchange tether DECELERATION O$ DEBRIS USING RADIATION PRESSURE

RADIATION PRESSURE+ The pressure e"erted b! light on an object is called radiation pressure. ;! using radiation pressure #e can introduce a force in a direction opposite to that of the debris thereb! slo#ing it do#n. Radia"io, -ress.re/$or0e e1er"ed o, debris2area o3 debris*
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;! Einstein8s e-uation, E / m 045 <omentum, p = mc Therefore E / 0-* ---- 678 1.>.T 9adiation pressure 59.&6 = 9ate of change of momentum per unit area* 4rom e-n 6789 p = E?c dp?dt=dE?dt@1?c 1.>.T. po#er = rate of change of Energ! = dE?dt dp?dt = po#er?c. Therefore, 9.& = po#er ? 5area@c6 1.>.T. $ntensit!5$6 = po#er?area Radia"io, -ress.re 6R*P8/i,"e,si"! o3 i:;"2ve o0i"! o3 i:;" /I20 54or total /bsorption6 R*P/5 I20 5for total reflection of light6. 4or an object to remain in orbit at altitudes belo# )30 miles 51,000 m6, it must travel at speeds of nearl! 1A,000 miles per hour. $t%s #ithin this region of space that critical satellites and craft, including the $nternational Space Station and the shuttle, operate. So in order to deorbit the debris its velocit! should be brought belo# 1A000 mph. The intensit! of radiation re-uired to deorbit the debris can be derived as follo#s0 /ccording to the la# of conservation of momentum, $f t#o objects collide, T;e mome,".m os" b! o,e ob<e0" / mome,".m :ai,ed b! ";e o";er. Boss of momentum of incident radiation= gain of momentum of debris ;ut, radiation pressure=rate of change of momentum?/rea $?c = dp?dt@1?/ D1=velocit! of debris v3=velocit! at #hich debris deorbits 5i.e. less than 1A000 mph6 Therefore intensit! of radiation re-uired, I/m02A=6v7-v582d"
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54or total /bsorption6

= m@dv?dt @1?/ #here dv = v1Cv3

dt = time re-uired to reduce the velocit! from v1 to v3 /s all the -uantities are constant, I,"e,si"! o3 radia"io, 72"ime re>.ired* So if the intensit! of radiation is more, then the time ta en to deorbit the debris #ill be less. DECELERATION O$ DEBRIS USING LASER BEAM+ The #ord B/SE9 stands for Bight /mplification b! Stimulated Emission of radiation. The laser beam is monochromatic, coherent, and highl! intense and does not diverge at all. ;! using highl! intense laser beam it is possible to slo# do#n the debris thereb! ma ing it to reenter earth8s atmosphere. The intensit! of laser beam re-uired is directl! proportional to the mass and inversel! proportional to the surface area of the debris. 9adars and other detecting devices cannot spot the debris that is smaller in size and so it cannot be deorbited easil!. E1am- e "o s;o? ";e -ossibi i"! o3 .si,: aser beam "o de orbi" debris+ Eonsider debris of mass 10g present in an area / orbiting #ith a velocit! of 10 >m?s. $n order to de orbit the debris it should orbit at velocit! less than A>m?s. E-n 536 gives I/m02A=6v7-v582d" /lso 1.>.T. $=po#er?/po#er=$@/ Therefore Po?er / m06v7-v582d" Time re>.ired "o de orbi" debris / d" / m06v7-v582-o?er o3 aser beam Eonsider the use of a laser beam of 30<1 po#er. Therefore time = 0.01@*@10FA@510000C7A006?530 @10F)6CCCC5since velocit! of debris should be less than A000m?s, #e ta e it as 7A00m?s.6 Amount of time for which the laser beam should be focussed on the debris = 330 seconds This is possible if #e can do it from the $SS it #ould not cost much either.

A view of debris reentering earths atmosphere /rtificial debris installed #ith G&S 5Global &ositioning S!stem6 can be set to orbit in a region #here the debris population is more. Thus #e can detect the movement of the debris using G&S. Then b! using a aser broom, #hich is nothing but a highl! intense laser beam in the order of mega#atts of po#er, #e can deorbit the debris of various sizes present in that region. /fter laser brooms s#eep the debris, the! slo# do#n and come to subCorbital levels finall! reentering into the earth8s atmosphere thus getting destro!ed. /s the artificial debris is also among those being s#ept it #ould be possible to observe the path ta en b! the debris during their reentr! phase, #hich could be of great use for future anal!sis. $OCUSSING O$ SUNLIGHT /s seen earlier laser beam can be used to slo# do#n the debris and deorbit them. 9adiation pressure e"erted b! sunlight can also be used effectivel!. The lensing of light on an! object increases the intensit! of radiation. 4or e.g. #hen suns ra!s are focussed on a piece of paper b! a conve" lens, the paper burns due to the increase in intensit!. The sun%s effect on a comet tail is a good e"ample of the effect of radiation pressure. /s the comet approaches the sun, due to the radiation pressure the dust and gaseous particles of it gets pushed bac forming its tail. Thus b! using the radiation pressure of the sun #e can clean the space in a natural #a!.

THE $UTURE IS DAR( @@@@@@@@@ $n the ne"t 100 !ears due to man8s thirst of e"ploring the final frontier more and more satellites #ill be launched. Ever since Sputni , humans have lobbed more than 30,000 metric tons of hard#are into orbit. $n addition, the number of operating satellites is e"pected to gro# from 700 toda! to as man! as *,000 in 3030. The number of satellites that are sent ever! !ear is increasing at an alarming rate. 2ue to this in the near future the space around us #ill get so polluted that it forms a la!er of debris preventing the satellites from going past it. Even the communication signals from the earth to the space missions being carried out on other planets and vice versa might be attenuated or even bloc ed. Thus ultimatel! mans aim of con-uering the solar s!stem and other gala"ies #ill fade a#a!. This graph shows the trend of increasing numbers of catastrophic debris collisions in space due to space

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/s it can be seen from the graph, the number of collisions increases tremendousl! #hich in turn increases the number of debris. So it is our responsibilit! to eep the environment around the earth clean thereb! b! increasing our chance to find a ne# home 5some other planet to live6. Thus #e increase the possibilit! of finding ne# friends #ith the help of the advanced communication technolog!. Thus it is in our hands to decide #hether the future is going to be either dar and gloom! or clean and spacious. CONCLUSION There are various methods in #hich the space debris issue can be handled. <ethods li e attaching roc et motors in debris, using of electrod!namic tether, radiation pressure, providing better shielding, manoeuvring and automatic de orbiting s!stems in the future space missions #ill help in solving the problem. The implementation of these techni-ues #ould lead to a bright future. Satellite communication #ould develop faster as there #ill be no hindrance to it. Ever! point in the earth, even the poles could be lin ed via satellites. Eommunication #ill be faster, better and cheaper. E"ploring the outer space #ould be easier and inter planetar! communication #ill flourish. Even though this problem might loo unimportant and is being neglected b! people, it is of great concern for the developments in space and technolog!. / part of the $nternational Space Station should be allocated for space debris removal and control called as Debris remova s"a"io,* This monitors the motion, size, and mass of the debris and removes them using an appropriate method suitable for that particular debris. The hazards caused b! the space debris #ill be immense. $t re-uires a lot of financial, materialistic and manpo#er to restore the damage done. &revention is better than cure. $ts high time #e start thin ing about space jun and act cautiousl!. The beginning is always today! should be our approach, other#ise the future #ill be a %.
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