Actually, the Austrian satellite ADLER-2 should have gone into space on Tuesday, but the launch of the “Falcon 9” launch vehicle of the American company SpaceX was postponed by a day. The Cubesat (mini-satellite, note) should search for space debris.
The satellite, which is to replace its predecessor ADLER-1 after more than a year of searching for space debris, is financed by the Upper Austrian company Findus Venture GmbH. It was built by the American technology company Spire Global, led by Austrian Peter Platzer. The Austrian Space Forum (OeWF) is responsible for the scientific direction.
Orbits the Earth at an altitude of 500 km
The successor, which is now roadworthy, is about twice the size of the ADLER-1, which is only 10 by 10 by 30 centimeters, and weighs 11.6 kilograms. It will be launched into its orbit, also at an altitude of about 500 kilometers, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA.
ADLER-1 should crash in a controlled manner
So that ADLER-1 itself does not become an object of investigation – ie space junk – it must be brought to a controlled crash. During its time in orbit, the minisatellite was hit about 100 times by tiny scrap particles, according to the OeWF (krone.at reported).
This also shows the necessity of the project, because the number of rocket launches, which has increased in recent years, means that the number of small objects in different orbits is constantly increasing. Current estimates assume 170 million particles larger than a millimeter.
According to the OeWF, the main purpose of the ADLER mission is to collect data that will allow highly developed computer simulations to assess the spread of space debris and ultimately search for safe orbits for probes.
Source: Krone
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