Using AIDA to solve the debris problem in space"
TB measurement methods help to assess the dangers
A few weeks ago, three ISS astronauts had to escape into an emergency capsule due to the danger of a collision between the space station and a discarded rocket part. Shortly before this happened, two satellites had collided and produced enormous quantities of new junk. The debris problem in space is becoming increasingly pressing. After all, approx. 4600 rockets have been started meanwhile and countless satellites have been transported into space. Now whether they are complete, inoperable satellites or micrometer-sized fuel residues – the assortment of the most diverse materials will in part, provided that they are orbiting at a greater altitude, remain in space for tens of thousands of years. In the meantime, researchers worldwide are searching at high speed for new methods to collect the quantities of junk and to assess the danger from the altogether very rapidly moving particles. In a cooperation project with the company etamax space GmbH, Braunschweig, the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), several institutes of the TU Braunschweig as well as other partners, a two-stage detector named AIDA (Advanced Impact Detector Assembly) is being developed, which will be able to accurately measure the kinetic energy and the speed of small space particles. The previous research and development work has been funded by ESA/ESTEC, DLR and BMWI. After the essential capability of the energy detector has been proven, the focus of the current work now lies on further developing it to become a space-capable measuring device.
PTB-contact:
Dr. Daniel Hagedorn,
Working Group 5.54 Surface Technology,
Tel. ++49-531-592-5540,
e-mail: daniel.hagedorn@ptb.de
PTB-contact: Dr. Michael Kobusch, Working Group 1.34 Impact Dynamics, Tel. ++49-531-592-1107, E-Mail: michael.kobusch@ptb.de