Astroscale demo to test space junk removal struggles with failed thrusters
Capitalism in space: Astroscale demo mission, ELSA-d, has been unable to complete a docking with its target vehicle as planned because four of the eight thrusters on the capture “servicer” vehicle have failed.
Engineers had separated the servicer from the target in January so that it could perform a rendezvous and then docking, from a distance, but that test was halted when engineers detected what the company only labeled as “anomalous spacecraft conditions.” This new announcement reveals what that problem was.
With safety always paramount, the Astroscale team has used a complex mix of burns with the remaining thrusters, aerodynamic drag and the natural perturbations of Earth’s gravity to bring the servicer safely back to a distance where operations can continue.
This revised plan began on February 18th, and has now apparently been mostly completed. However, rather than dock, the company has decided to only approach as close to 160 meters (525 feet) to test some sensors, and then retreat. Whether they will then attempt a recapture remains undecided.
Astroscale’s goal is to convince satellite companies to install its magnetic capture device on their satellites. Astroscale’s servicer could then use it to dock with a defunct satellite and deorbit it or maybe fix it. This demo flight was to prove the rendezvous and capture device worked.
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Capitalism in space: Astroscale demo mission, ELSA-d, has been unable to complete a docking with its target vehicle as planned because four of the eight thrusters on the capture “servicer” vehicle have failed.
Engineers had separated the servicer from the target in January so that it could perform a rendezvous and then docking, from a distance, but that test was halted when engineers detected what the company only labeled as “anomalous spacecraft conditions.” This new announcement reveals what that problem was.
With safety always paramount, the Astroscale team has used a complex mix of burns with the remaining thrusters, aerodynamic drag and the natural perturbations of Earth’s gravity to bring the servicer safely back to a distance where operations can continue.
This revised plan began on February 18th, and has now apparently been mostly completed. However, rather than dock, the company has decided to only approach as close to 160 meters (525 feet) to test some sensors, and then retreat. Whether they will then attempt a recapture remains undecided.
Astroscale’s goal is to convince satellite companies to install its magnetic capture device on their satellites. Astroscale’s servicer could then use it to dock with a defunct satellite and deorbit it or maybe fix it. This demo flight was to prove the rendezvous and capture device worked.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
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