Topic: Space - on September 11, 2013 at 3:05:00 PM CEST
Swiss space plane to launch robotic orbital debris destroyer
Last year, the Swiss Space Center at the University of Lausanne announced the planned launch of CleanSpace One, a robotic satellite designed to grab onto large pieces of space junk and push them down towards Earth, where ablation with the atmosphere will burn up the trash. Now, in partnership with Swiss Space Systems (S3), the team is proposing using an experimental space plane to get the 30 kilogram CleanSpace One into orbit.
S3 is building an unmanned Suborbital Reusable Shuttle (SOAR) which will take off by piggybacking on an Airbus A-300. The two craft will fly up for 10 kilometers before releasing the unmanned shuttle. SOAR's engines will then fire, boosting the craft to 80 kilometers above the Earth's surface.
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