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Parachute to help clean up space junk

Russian researchers have offered a new method of collecting space debris with the use of a parachute, which will slow down worn-out satellites and disorbit them. The 3-m diameter air inflatable retarding spherical device allows taking a 3-unit CubeSat satellite into the Earth’s atmosphere in ten hours.

The developers also stressed the necessity of equipping space vehicles with disposal systems as some three million pieces of space debris orbit the Earth, which could make future space missions impossible. The situation is only aggravated by collisions that produce even smaller pieces of orbital debris thus increasing their number.      

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