In mid-January last year, the small satellite ADLER-1, designed by the Austrian Space Forum (ÖWF), was launched into space to examine space debris at an altitude of about 500 kilometers. Since then, the Cubsat has been hit nearly 100 times by small pieces of scrap metal, the OeWF reported Wednesday.
ADLER-1 – the name stands for Austrian Debris Detection Low Earth (Orbit) Reconnoite – is equipped with a radar and an 8.65 square meter instrument called APID (Austrian Particle Impact Detector). The latter is a piezoelectric sensor developed by the Space Forum that measures the kinetic energy of particles a few micrometres in size.
Since its launch just over 13 months ago, the 10 x 10 x 30 centimeter microsatellite has registered nearly 100 hits, reports OeWF President Willibald Stumptner. That’s within the range of what can be expected — “unfortunately,” he said, because it clearly shows the problem. “It’s only a matter of time before an expensive satellite fails due to space debris.”
“Get an overview of how bad it is”
The use of ADLER-1 so far has shown “that even with small satellites you can improve the data situation and get an overview of how bad it is up there,” says the researcher. “We have to be careful not to make access to space more difficult for future generations,” says OeAW director Gernot Grömer, referring to the ever-increasing number of satellite launches.
Rules are therefore necessary and data is needed for that. Those of the Austrian satellites are also included in corresponding models of the European Space Agency ESA.
The successor model is expected to launch in April
The successor model ADLER-2, which is twice the size, is expected to launch in April – with improved sensor technology and larger detectors. The probe is again funded by Upper Austrian Findus Venture GmbH, built by US technology company Spire Global, which is managed by Austrian Peter Platzer. ADLER-1 must then be brought to a controlled crash.
Source: Krone
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