Ground-Based Lasers Could Push Space Debris off Collision-Course Orbits

Seldom Bucket

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Researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) are finding new uses for the laser-based technology that sharpens telescope imagery – called adaptive optics – and it just might help mitigate the world’s growing space debris problem. Purpose-built lasers could give derelict satellites a slight ‘push’ of photons, imparting just enough energy to change the debris’s orbit and prevent an impending collision.


Lasers have a long history in astronomy. Telescopes in space, like Hubble, are able to take spectacular images because they don’t have to deal with atmospheric distortion (the effect that causes stars to appear to ‘twinkle’ in the night sky). But space telescopes can only be so big, so ground-based observatories can offer a lot more seeing power, with a little help from adaptive optics.

 

JacobCooper45

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I never heard about this way of using lasers, but if they help to clean up space, why not use them? I'm very interested in the problem of space debris and the ways of solving it. Recently I came across one Scottish company — Skyrora. They designed a space tug to clean up LEO. Here is the link to their website https://www.skyrora.com/blog/uk-space-news. If someone knows other concepts that should help us to clean up space, I would be glad to listen to you.
 

Seldom Bucket

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I never heard about this way of using lasers, but if they help to clean up space, why not use them? I'm very interested in the problem of space debris and the ways of solving it. Recently I came across one Scottish company — Skyrora. They designed a space tug to clean up LEO. Here is the link to their website https://www.skyrora.com/blog/uk-space-news. If someone knows other concepts that should help us to clean up space, I would be glad to listen to you.
If you think about it in the vacuum of space even the photons of light from a star is enough to push something, even though it might be very small, so if you can focus that energy even better.
The other option often brought up is grating microgravity by using a satellite to change the course of asteroids for instance.
 
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