Australian company Electro Optic Systems (EOS) aims to have a laser-based space debris ablation system in service within 12 to 18 months.
The company, which operates satellite laser-ranging facilities in Australia, has been working on the space-debris clearing system for several years, with laboratory tests proving the system in the last year, says Ron Thompson, EOS general manager. Space debris has become an enormous problem and threat to satellites and there are few methods of managing it, he says.
The debris-clearing system is based on EOS's laser-tracking technology, which can predict the position of debris down to the centimetre and identify debris 5cm (2in) in size. The system includes an in-house designed and developed laser and software. "We are pushing the boundaries of current technology in terms of pulse technology and laser energy," says Thompson.
The system identifies debris via high-gain cameras and moves it with a laser beam to an unstable orbit, where the debris will deorbit and burn up as it enters the Earth's atmosphere.
Thompson says EOS is the only company that has developed such a system to move space debris and as a result has attracted the interest of launch operators, satellite companies and insurers. It already has a number of contracts for the system, although Thompson declines to provide details.
EOS eventually plans to have facilities providing the service on every continent, with the first to be in Australia, he says.
EOS operates Australia's Satellite Laser Ranging Facility at Mount Stromlo, Canberra, which was recently rebuilt after the original facility was destroyed in the Canberra bushfires of 2003. The company has also recently won a deal to operate a ranging facility near Geraldton, Western Australia in a contract previously held by BAE Australia and it has provided its laser-ranging equipment to other countries, including Japan and Saudi Arabia.
The company's main focus is space-debris tracking and it has been working on a debris database for several years at Mount Strombli, with the aim of cataloguing 100,000 pieces of debris.
EMMA KELLY / PERTH
Source: Flight International
