ARLA/CLUSTER: Japão quer limpar o lixo espacial

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

Japan to test 'magnetic net' that can fish out floating space junk

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) is teaming up with a
company that manufactures fishing equipment to create a net that will
sweep the heavens of the man-made debris orbiting our planet.

The first test of the equipment is scheduled to start in late
February, when a rocket will be launched and a satellite developed by
researchers at Kagawa University will be deployed.

Once in orbit, the satellite is designed to unreel a wire net some 300
metres long that will then generate a magnetic field and -
theoretically - attract some of the debris that is circulating beyond
our atmosphere.

And there is a growing need for outer space to undergo a good
clean-up, with experts estimating that 100 million bits of man-made
junk zipping around the earth.

Of that total, some 22,000 are believed to measure 10 cm or larger and
are therefore considered dangerous.

The majority of the debris is in a band between 700 kilometres and
1,000 kilometres above the surface of the planet, mostly parts of
obsolescent and degrading satellites and rockets.

Out of control and impossible to accurately monitor, even the smallest
piece of detritus - a single bolt, for example - could have a
catastrophic result if it collides with a functioning satellite or the
International Space Station, which has a permanent human crew aboard.

Read the full South China Morning Post article at:
http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/technology/article/1405386/
japan-test-magnetic-net-can-fish-out-floating-space-junk