Photos of a part of a Japanese rocket found in space were released this Wednesday (31) by the company Astroscale. The records were captured during an operation that evaluates the possibilities of space debris collection which will be followed with a mission to remove them.
The body was unexpected and poses — like all space debris — risks to satellites and the International Space Station (ISS). The images could provide important information for the recovery of the object, which is the size of a bus and weighs three tons. See below.
The photographs were taken on July 15 and 16 during two flights that marked an important milestone in the Japanese mission. The images captured the part of the rocket illuminated by different intensities of sunlight and from various angles.
“Unprepared objects in orbit are not designed with technologies that enable docking, servicing or removal, increasing the complexity of operations. The information obtained from these images will provide essential data that will support a future mission to capture and remove the object,” Astroscale’s press release said.
The mission of the Japanese Commercial Debris Removal Demonstration (CRD2) program is in its first phase, being carried out by the Adras-J spacecraft, from the company Astroscale.
The vehicle was selected by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) to demonstrate possible technologies for removing large space debris.
According to the European Space Agency (ESA), there are more than 170 million pieces of debris larger than 1 millimeter in orbit, posing risks to satellites and the International Space Station.
The second phase, which will also be carried out by Astroscale, will begin the removal of debris from Earth orbit. “The development of the Adras-J2 spacecraft is ongoing, and the legacy of the Adras-J spacecraft and its operations, along with the data collected, will be used for the removal phase of the program.
The three flight operations revealed that there was no significant damage to the payload attachment fitting, which is the planned capture point for the Adras-J2 mission,” the statement said.
Source: CNN Brasil
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