China’s drag sail is designed to help deorbit the Long March 2D rocket within two years. (Image Credit: Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology)
On June 24th, China launched its Long March 2D rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center to deploy three Yaogan 35 series satellites in orbit. Now, the country is attempting to remove the 661-pound 2D rocket from the Earth’s orbit within two years to reduce space junk. In that case, the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST), the rocket’s maker, also deployed a 269-square foot large drag sail equipped on the rocket’s payload adapter the next day after the initial launch.
Both the adapter and kite-like sail are expected to descend faster than the rocket’s upper stage over the next few years. This sail increases atmospheric drag and accelerates the rocket’s final stage orbital decay. Removing more space junk from orbit helps to eliminate collisions that would otherwise produce even more space debris.
Space debris has become a major issue for space activities. According to the European Space Agency’s Space Debris Office, 31,360 space junk objects being tracked by space surveillance networks currently orbit the Earth. Statistical models also estimate that approximately one million pieces of space junk ranging from 0.4 inches to 4 inches wide and 130 million objects measuring 0.04 inches to 0.4 inches currently orbit the Earth.
Due to their low cost and advanced technology, drag sails could serve as a solution for removing space debris in the long run. They could be deployed to deorbit various low-Earth satellites. Extremely flexible and lightweight, drag sails can be folded and mounted on a spacecraft. Afterward, these unfold near a mission’s end, helping to remove the object from orbit quicker than its natural process.
In such cases, a 33-pound satellite stationed 700km above the Earth may stay in place for 120 years after expiring. With a 2 square meter drag sail, that time could be reduced to under ten years.
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