Junk Masters

Screws, nuts, and satellites’ pieces are only some of the thousands of space debris pieces which circulate around Earth. Although they are usually very small (size varies from 1 mm to 10 cm), they travel at very high speeds, reaching up to 17,500 mph. This can create critical damage to space vehicles, even to the International Space Station and our satellites.

If that happened, we would be submerged in a global catastrophe. Lots of people would die because of plane crashes. Nobody would have access to wifi, which would mean the end of the global networks such as the phones ones. We would be back in the stone age, so we have to be aware of the great dangers space junk represents.That is why we have thought a solution to this, based on a game.

NASA had developed a protocol in order to prevent space debris from colliding with any vehicle or satellite. The protocol, usually referred as “Pizza Box” , consists in drawing an imaginary box around the vehicle. When predictions say the debris will enter the box, Mission Control centers in Houston and Moscow work together in order to create a course of action.

However, Donald J. Kessler once said that the density of the wastes around Earth would increase and, being this true, more collisions would happen, creating more garbage. If this happened, the Pizza Box protocol will lose its functionality.

The aim of Junk Masters is to provide visual help of a possible solution for this tremendous problem, involving the use of a spacecraft which will recollect the debris, instead of dodging it, so that future trips could be performed without any problem.

In the game, users will operate the machine, which will circulate around Earth, picking up space junk and trying to avoid asteroids. The more they recollect, the more points they will gain. We hope that, by sharing this video game, we will give visual help for the problem and we will promote creative and innovative ideas to clean our space surroundings.

How the spaceship works?

Electropermanent magnet:

In order to catch the space junk, the most factible way that we have found was to use electropermanent. It is a type of permanent magnet in which the external magnetic field can be switched on or off by a pulse of electric current in a wire winding around part of the magnet.

After a lot of research, a good magnet that could be used in the space is the HEPMSL-100, a magnet capable of lifting a ten ton piece of metal, which is more than enough to grab an enormous piece of junk in a 0 gravity environment. But it has to be powered by a current of 440V and 77A to be at its maximum capacity.

Solar panels:

The solar energy that reaches the earth's surface consists of direct and diffused light. When solar radiation reaches the atmosphere, 6% is reflected and 16% absorbed. The various atmospheric conditions reduce solar radiation by an additional 20% in terms of reflection and an additional 3% by absorption. These atmospheric conditions not only reduce the amount of energy that reaches the Earth but also diffuse approximately 20% of the light and filter portions of its electromagnetic spectrum. After crossing the atmosphere, approximately half of the solar radiation is in the visible electromagnetic spectrum while the other half is in the infrared spectrum (a small portion is ultraviolet radiation). Due to the atmospheric effects mentioned, only between 10% and 13% of the total energy that reaches the Earth can be used.

The extraterrestrial solar energy is the one which is acquired outside the Earth's atmosphere. Thanks to the absence of atmospheric gases or cloud formations, in the space near the earth the solar radiation is 35% higher than that reached by the earth's surface. That is why a normal solar panel in the Earth's surface would produce approximately 170Wh per m2 while in the space this number increase, reaching 229.5Wh per m2.

Continuing with the idea, we saw that having two solar panels with a measure of 15x2m on the top of the spaceship would produce 13,770 kwh which, if saved in some kind of batteries, would be more than enough to power the electropermanent magnet and all the spaceship systems.

Batteries:

In order to save all the energy and provide it to the magnet, it would be necessary to use four batteries connected in series capable of provide a current of 110V and 200Ah.

Uses of the Data:

• NASA 3D models of satellites, spacecraft parts and other debris.
• Modeling of the movement in space for the debris, Earth and the spaceship.
• Repository
• Web App