Research Project
Mission Goals
Establish an informative resource that ranks all of the current methods of space debris, both contact and contactless.
Weigh the pros and cons of each method, compare the ones that seem to be most efficient, and determine which method is most attainable
Develop a model using the space debris method deemed most efficient in terms of cost and performance, simulate this in an environment that mimics space, and attempt to improve the design
Project Scope
NASA has tracked over 500,000 pieces of space debris, ranging from 1-10cm with velocities of 17,500 mph. They have also used the poisson distribution to identify that the amount of space debris occupying Earth's atmosphere will increase exponentially. Team JUNK will begin research by identifying various removal methods, such as using nets, lasers, harpoons, magnets, etc. We will compile this information together, compare their strengths and weaknesses, and understand which method is most efficient. This will ultimately be the bulk of our sophomore research year. By junior year, we would like to begin simulating what we believe to be the most efficient removal method and develop a real model, one that we can test and hopefully by senior year improve.