Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/739629
PIAP In SPAce Last but not least – PIAP leaves the Earth and moves to space. To be more spe- cific, equipment designed by PIAP will take part in the project of the European Space Agency (ESA). Its purpose will be to enable cleaning space debris orbiting in low orbits. Those mainly include carrying elements of rockets and damaged or abandoned satellites. The amount of scrap moving around the Earth is reaching a degree that makes sending new spacecrafts risky and expensive due to the faults and damage caused by fragments of old equipment. That is why ESA de- cided to implement a project to start space cleaning operations in 2023. PIAP received a task to design a grapple that will allow dragging flying debris to the atmosphere, so that it will burn there. The task may seem simple but, in fact, it is very complex. The grapple must quickly grip the satellite ("quickly" in space means 2-3 seconds) and it must do it with great force, which is quite difficult in vacuum. The main problem is the possibility that the grappled scrap will bounce off the grapple – that is why the grip must be fast. The second problem refers to the force of the grip. It must allow dragging debris to the atmosphere, which is impossible with fast grip (it takes about 20 seconds for a strong grip...). What is more, there are also problems related to the vacuum itself, low temperatures, very high (up to 100 Celsius degree) temperature differences between the surround - ings, the grapple, and scrap. PIAP has an idea how to solve those problems. ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES