Millennium Space Systems demonstrates deployable tape technology
Drag is not always a bad thing. As the orbital altitudes around the earth grow increasingly cluttered, how do space innovators responsibly deploy satellites into orbit without turning space into a clustered garbage mass? A subsidiary company of Boeing, based in California has found a creative solution. Using what they call drag tape, the satellite speed is reduced gradually until its orbit decays and it is consumed in the upper atmosphere. This can be deployed after a satellite has concluded its service life and may prove to be a more simple solution than deploying external retrieval systems. Can we look forward to brilliant shooting stars in the night as well as a clean exosphere?
Read the full press release issued by Millenium Space Systems here:
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Aug. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Millennium Space Systems, a Boeing (NYSE: BA) company, successfully demonstrated the ability of deployable tether technology to significantly reduce the time a satellite remains on orbit after service life completion.
"Thousands of satellites will launch over the next decade, creating serious congestion in low Earth orbit," said Patrick Kelly, Ph.D., Dragracer program manager at Millennium Space Systems. "What we've proven is a way to safely and deliberately deorbit retired satellites."
Dragracer is the first direct comparison of a drag tape on two identical satellites. The satellite outfitted with a 70m Terminator Tape® developed by Tethers Unlimited, burned upon reentry to Earth's atmosphere after eight months. The satellite without tape will naturally deorbit unaided on its journey back to Earth after at least seven years.
"If a satellite has a two-year operational life, you're looking at a big piece of space debris sticking around for potentially decades," said Kelly. "With drag tape, we significantly reduce the time it remains space debris, and it's one less piece of debris to track."
The Terminator Tape® creates additional surface area that interacts with the Earth's atmosphere to create drag, which draws satellites back to Earth faster. The tape is deployed with a simple mechanism when a satellite is ready to de-orbit. And, because the tape is so lightweight, it has no effect on the satellite's primary mission.
"Dragracer is the first complete demonstration of safe and rapid deorbit of a satellite by the Terminator Tape Deorbit Module," said Robert Hoyt, president of Tethers Unlimited. "The Terminator Tape is an affordable, lightweight, patented, and now flight-proven solution for responsible end-of-mission disposal of satellites to help ensure the long-term sustainability of space operations."
Millennium Space designed and developed Dragracer in just nine months – and Dragracer then launched from Auckland, New Zealand, November 19, 2020. The program was a collaborative effort with Tethers Unlimited, mission launch service provider TriSept and launch vehicle provider Rocket Lab.
About Millennium Space Systems
Millennium Space Systems, a Boeing Company, delivers high-performing prototype and constellation solutions across advanced national security and environmental observation missions. Founded in 2001, the company's small satellite missions support government, civil and commercial space customers' needs across orbits.
SOURCE Millennium Space Systems