Environmental pollution is also a hidden danger in space. There are millions of space junk scattered in space, threatening the safety of the outer space of the earth. For satellites that are orbiting, about 200 space debris per day threatens their operation.
In order to solve this increasingly serious problem, Chinese scientists are exploring the possibility of using the orbital green laser pointer to blast space debris. Researchers at the China Air Force Engineering University have the latest research results: by using space-based platform lasers, space debris can be irradiated by lasers into smaller, less harmful fragments.
The researchers successfully simulated an orbital laser station that could aim and strike space debris below 10 cm at a rate of 20 lasers per second, for a total of only 2 minutes. This type of impact is intended to either force space debris to burn in the atmosphere or push it away to prevent collisions. The research team concluded that it is possible to launch such orbital laser stations that effectively remove space debris and prevent them from colliding in the future.
At present, this program is still in the stage of computer simulation, and the actual effective testing has not yet been put on the agenda. At the same time, this green laser pointer blasting solution is not without problems. First of all, its equipment can only destroy very small space debris. Whether it can remove larger space garbage in a harmless way is still unknown. Secondly, the logistics and transportation work of creating a laser station is also very complicated. Building them? How many laser stations are you building? Again, although orbital laser stations are specifically designed to remove space debris, are they likely to be used as space weapons? Researchers need to find answers to these and other related questions before they can use this successful simulation technique to clear space junk.