Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




TECH SPACE
Out-of-fuel European satellite to come crashing down
by Staff Writers
Paris (AFP) Oct 22, 2013


Students creating satellite with self-healing material
Montreal (UPI) Oct 19, 2013 - A group of Canadian college students is trying to raise money to create a satellite that will test a new material that can heal itself.

Space Concordia, made up of Concordia University Engineering students, designed the ConSat-1 three years ago to study the South Atlantic Anomaly, an area in space that causes electronic equipment to malfunction, CBC News reported Saturday.

The ConSat-1 won the first Canadian Satellite Design Challenge last year, with a prize of having the satellite launched into space.

Now, the team is working on a second satellite that incorporates a self-healing material designed by a Concordia professor.

When the material breaks, it releases an epoxy that seals cracks and protects against further damage.

"Nobody has sent this to space yet, so we thought it's really interesting to do this ourselves -- to send it in space -- and if it actually works, this could be used in future for bigger satellites, or even the next space station," said Mehbi Sabzalin, the project leader for ConSat-2.

Space Concordia has launched a Kickstarter crowdsourcing campaign to raise $15,000 to create ConSat-2.

"It's going to go to all the stuff that needs money the most, starting with communication, the transceivers," said Sabazlin.

The team said it has raised $1,387 on Kickstarter with 42 days to go to reach its goal.

A satellite monitoring Earth's gravity field since 2009 will run out of fuel "in the coming days" and eventually crash, with little risk to humans, the European Space Agency said Friday.

About 40 to 50 fragments with a combined mass of 250 kilogrammes (550 pounds) are projected to hit our planet within weeks of the GOCE satellite running out of fuel, according to spacecraft operations manager Christoph Steiger.

"We are very close to the end," he told AFP on Friday, when the pressure in the satellite's fuel tank dropped below 2.5 bar -- the minimum required for full operation.

Not yet known is when and where the fragments will impact -- over the ocean or on land.

The pressure in the orbiter's tank is expected to drop to zero no later than October 26 but the engine will likely stop working before then, said Steiger.

"Right now, it is not possible to predict where it will happen, it could be anywhere. The closer we get to the reentry point, the more precisely we will be able to say.

"Roughly one day before (impact), one can exclude certain regions of the Earth. A few hours before, we will be able to tell with... a few thousand kilometres of precision."

The Gravity Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) was launched into orbit in March 2009 at an altitude of just 260 kilometres (160 miles).

It has stayed aloft thanks to its unusual aerodynamic shape and an ion propulsion system.

GOCE's stock of 41 kg of fuel stood at about 350 grammes on Friday. When it runs out completely, the satellite will start losing altitude, become unstable and eventually de-orbit.

Most of the 5.3-metre-long (17.2-foot) spacecraft will break up at an altitude of about 80 kilometres (50 miles), said Steiger.

But about a quarter of its mass will survive, hitting the surface in a trail of fragments over an area of a few hundred kilometres.

"The risk is very small, but it is not zero," said Fernand Alby, in charge of space debris and space surveillance at France's National Centre of Space Studies (CNES) in Toulouse.

"Per year, it is estimated that about 100 tonnes of manmade space debris is reentering (the atmosphere), out of which between 20 and 40 tonnes survive reentry... and impact somewhere on Earth," Steiger said.

In 50 years of spaceflight, there have been no casualties from manmade space debris reentering, he insisted.

"The risk of getting hit by such a reentering, manmade space debris is 65,000 times lower than getting hit by lighting. It is 1.5 million times lower than being killed in a home accident -- falling down the stairs or something like that."

The 350-million-euro ($465-million) mission has lasted twice as long as its initially scheduled 20 months.

Scientists say it has returned reams of data on Earth's gravity field and ocean circulation.

GOCE was designed and built before 2008, when international recommendations were adopted that a scientific satellite must be able to execute a controlled reentry, or burn up completely after its mission.

Steiger said a global space debris coordinating committee was monitoring the satellite to predict its point of reentry, "and we are passing on the information to national authorities".

.


Related Links
Space Technology News - Applications and Research






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








TECH SPACE
Space oddity: the mystery of 2013 QW1
Paris (ESA) Sep 25, 2013
Last month, ESA's near-Earth asteroid coordination centre triggered a series of European observations that confirmed an unknown object was, in fact, of human origin. The confirmation was the Centre's second such success in recent months and demonstrates the effectiveness of the Agency's asteroid-monitoring activities. On 23 August, a rather unusual object was spotted in the sky by the US P ... read more


TECH SPACE
LADEE Continues To Settle Into Operational Lunar Orbit

NASA's moon landing remembered as a promise of a 'future which never happened'

Russia could build manned lunar base

China unveils its first and unnamed moon rover

TECH SPACE
Phobos-Grunt-2: Russia to probe Martian moon by 2022

Russian scientists set sights on space

Heading to a High Slope for Some Sunshine

Russia to Make Second Attempt at Mars Moon Mission

TECH SPACE
Ethiopia sets sights on stars with space program

US universities make big bets on startups

Iran plans new monkey space launch

Scott Carpenter, second American in orbit, dies at 88

TECH SPACE
NASA's China policy faces mounting pressure

Ten Years of Chinese Astronauts

NASA vows to review ban on Chinese astronomers

China criticises US space agency over 'discrimination'

TECH SPACE
Aerojet Rocketdyne Thrusters Help Cygnus Spacecraft Berth at the International Space Station

First CASIS Funded Payloads Berthed to the ISS

Unmanned cargo ship docks with orbiting Space Station

New space crew joins ISS on Olympic torch mission

TECH SPACE
Russia Readies Proton Rocket for October 20 Launch

Sunshield preparations bring Gaia closer to deep-space Soyuz launch

SES-8 Arrives At Cape Canaveral For SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch

Spaceport Colorado and S3 Sign Memorandum of Understanding

TECH SPACE
Astronomer see misaligned planets in distant system

Water discovered in remnants of extrasolar rocky world orbiting white dwarf

Space 'graveyard' reveals bits of an Earth-like planet

Scientists generate first map of clouds on an exoplanet

TECH SPACE
Students creating satellite with self-healing material

Out-of-fuel European satellite to come crashing down

Satellite's gravity-mapping mission is over: ESA

Electrically powered in a geostationary orbit




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement