The subject of my presentation is very important.
Since the day humankind first walked in outer space it has been littering it.
Space debris poses a problem for both further use of outer space and living on Earth.
That’s why the main idea of my project is to develop a multifunctional spacecraft
capable of fighting against space debris and solving other problems.
Space debris is the collection of out-of-service objects in orbit around Earth.
As a result of the development of space industry
there has been a huge accumulation of artificial material orbiting Earth.
Space junk is tracked by two countries Russia and USA.
They created a special debris database which serves to register debris tracks and tabulate them.
Here we have an example of damage to a solar cell
that resulted from a collision with space debris.
Space junk also poses a threat to Earth.
Now you can see the fall of Russian military satellite Cosmos-2421 in 2008.
It crashed in Mexico.
Also in 2008 China had to destroy its own satellite with 400 kg of hydrazine hydrate on board
because it could fall.
In 1987 soviet satellite Cosmos-954 with a nuclear reactor on board
crashed in the North-west of Canada.
As a result USSR had to pay Canada 3 million dollars of compensation.
Only 1 out of a million possibilities of space debris to crash into a residential area can be forecasted.
In 1979 a piece of American missile crashed in Australia and killed a cow.
Thus, space debris presents a threat to civilization.
At the moment there are several ways to remove space junk from the orbit.
The first is self-purification.
Space debris gradually burns up in dense atmosphere layers.
But in a year there is more debris created than burnt up.
Space junk can be dragged from the orbit with the help of spaceships
but it is not economically profitable.
Another option is destruction.
Satellites that threaten Earth could be destroyed.
That will assure safety but cause increasing density of space junk in the orbit.
Objects in geostationary orbits are also very important for our research.
In such orbits an object appears motionless, at a fixed position in the sky.
That’s why objects past their expiry term are moved from a geostationary orbit to a disposal one.
But this works only for objects in geostationary orbits.
British scientist suggested space debris trash collectors.
They are preparing to launch Cubesail whose solar sail is designed to stop orbital junk.
We suggest a special scheme of a multifunctional spacecraft
that will help us fight against space debris and solve other problems.
Now you can see its illustration.
Its manipulators will catch space debris and move it into the spacecraft where the debris will be utilized.
Here we see a draft of its interior structure.
This is an illustration of a manipulator.
It has an outfit designed to grasp debris and do repair or dismantling work on satellites.
Now I would like to show how certain modules of the spacecraft work.
The spacecraft will catch space debris and move it into the first sluice.
Then with the help of a particular wicket debris will be sent to a pressing chamber.
When a certain amount of debris is collected in the pressing chamber
the press will be activated to form debris into compressed blocks.
Then the blocks will be moved to a storage bay.
Also I have video records showing the principle of operation.
You can find the video on our website as here we have only illustrations.
Since 64 percent of space debris are broken satellites our main task will be dismantling of old satellites.
Our spacecraft will fly up to a target and first of all dismantle good or dangerous parts.
It will also be able to examine satellites and repair them.
If the spacecraft cannot repair a satellite it will shift it to ISS.
Let me just run over the key points space debris poses for us a serious problem.
I propose a special spacecraft capable of dealing not only with this problem but many others.
Mankind needs space because it is a way to new territories and new resources.
Our orbit is the first step to use of outer space and it should not be littered.
Thank you for attention.