Humans do a fine job of trashing wherever we call home. We are now treating the outer reaches of our atmosphere as an extension of our homes. And we’re doing a fine job of trashing space.
There are some ideas out there for how to clean it all up. One of those ideas? Developing a satellite that eats space junk. There is at least one new strategy available that can help us avoid suffering from Kessler Syndrome, which is the theoretical idea that we so thoroughly trash the space just beyond the planet that it becomes impossible actually to leave it.
A new proposed solution for cleaning up space, published in Scientific Reports, comes to us from a scientist in Japan. Kazunori Takahashi of Tohoku University has been developing a next-generation solution called a bi-directional plasma thruster.
In simple terms, it shoots out plasma in two opposing directions to stabilize and decelerate space debris without physically touching it.
The Next Big Idea in Space Junk Cleanup: A Plasma Trash Grabber
His earlier version, first unveiled in 2018, worked well on small objects but lacked the power to handle anything more substantial than small space trash and odds and ends. His newer version is upgraded with fusion energy tech. Or, at least, takes inspiration from it.
Borrowing a trick from nuclear fusion reactors, Takahashi’s team incorporated a cusp magnetic field, which helps contain plasma and boost the system’s power output. When tested in vacuum conditions that mimic low-Earth orbit, this upgraded plasma engine tripled its deceleration force.
It pushed out 25 millinewtons of force at 5 kilowatts, just shy of the power needed to drag a one-ton satellite into Earth’s atmosphere within 100 days.
Rather than blowing it up or somehow engineering a satellite that eats other satellites, we’ll slowly drag trash out of orbit with plasma thrusters. It can be expensive, and who knows if any of this will ever prove to be truly viable, but we need as many teams as possible trying to figure out how to de-clutter Earth’s orbit; otherwise, there will soon be a day when we won’t be able to see the stars anymore.
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