The small Austrian satellite ADLER-1, launched last March, has done its job: according to the Austrian Space Forum (ÖWF), which is responsible for the scientific direction in the project, the device, which is only ten times ten at 30 centimeter, has now burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere.
This was also intended because the space junk seeker itself should not become orbital junk. By the time it ended, the Cubsat ADLER-1 had provided half a million datasets on objects in near-Earth orbits. The project has continued since April with the successor ADLER-2.
ADLER-1 received 100 hits
About 100 direct encounters with space debris have been recorded. The successor to ADLER-1 should provide significantly more information during its field mission, which will also last about a year, to expand knowledge about the distribution of scrap in near space.
On board the Cubsat ADLER-2 is the 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
I am an experienced and passionate journalist with a strong track record in news website reporting. I specialize in technology coverage, breaking stories on the latest developments and trends from around the world. Working for Today Times Live has given me the opportunity to write thought-provoking pieces that have caught the attention of many readers.