Finally! The start of “Adler-1” from the US state of California was successful on Saturday after several delays. And: a mission extension should provide even more data about space debris in orbit around the Earth
After several postponements, the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from the American company Space X finally succeeded on Saturday. The mini-satellite “Adler-2” will also be launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in the US state of California. The Austrian Space Forum (ÖWF) is responsible for the scientific management of the “Adler” mission to collect data on the distribution of space debris in Earth orbits.
Strong connection to Upper Austria
The probe is funded by Christian Federspiel’s Findus Venture GmbH in Upper Austria, built by US technology company Spire Global, which is managed by Peter Platzer of Upper Austria. The new mini-satellite is about twice the size of “Adler-1”, which measures only ten by ten by thirty centimeters and has been in space for more than a year. “Adler-2” has now been transported into its orbit, which is also at an altitude of about 500 kilometers, as one of a total of about 50 devices on board the Falcon 9 rocket.
170 million pieces of waste
The goal of the “Adler” mission is to collect information about small objects in different orbits. Current estimates assume 170 million particles larger than a millimeter. The Eagle mission aims to improve advanced computer simulations that estimate the distribution of space debris. This should make it easier to find safe jobs for probes.
Even more data
Unlike “Adler-1”, the successor will provide significantly more data in outdoor use, which will also last about a year. On board is OeWF’s “Austrian Particle Impact Detector” (APID) radar device, a kind of “space microphone” and an optical sensor intended to search Earth’s atmosphere for signs of air pollution. The probe should provide about two million data sets to Innsbruck-based OeWF.
Source: Krone
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