When the laser cannon receives the instruction to destroy the monitoring target, the equipment enters the preparation stage, and then the “laser ablation” process is triggered. The device will emit a laser beam to the area above 160 km to 2000 km above the earth, causing the temperature of the area to rise rapidly. Eventually, the space probe wreckage and other space debris are hot melted to achieve the effect of cleaning.
There are a lot of space debris floating in space, parts of detectors that fall during transportation, and debris of space probes. This not only has a serious impact on the space environment, but also affects the normal operation of other detectors.
Currently, scientists plan to use a high-energy solid-state generator to power the laser pointer, and further develop more efficient and less energy-consuming power supplies. Scientists said that they hope that laser cannons will be officially used in the field of space debris cleaning in the future, helping space to restore its original clean and clean appearance.
The monitoring system consists mainly of an optical telescope with a length of about 3 meters. Second, it tracks the space debris that needs to be removed and, when necessary, smashes the tracking target by emitting a laser beam.