Super technology leader

"Worker Bee One, its name is Worker Bee One."

Oh, it's the three-bomb in space...Bah, who gave it the nickname, are the three thrusters the three-bomb?

Adding the word "space" makes it taller?

Tang Chao started cursing on the spot as soon as he saw the barrage, but he thought that the influence was not good.

I am a public figure.

Just bear it.

Its name is "Worker Bee No. 1", and it is an orbital engineering spacecraft that specializes in salvaging, towing, and temporary rescue of orbital facilities.

The other equipped spacecraft is called "Worker Bee II", and they are all orbital maneuvering facilities in the industrial zone.

There are only two at present, but they belong to the "worker bee class" orbiter, a small orbiter specially used for work. When there are more large-scale space facilities in the future, their number will increase accordingly.

Sitting in the command position, Tang Chao asked the technicians, "How is the status of Worker Bee One?"

"No problem at all, Mr. Tang, you can start the mission at any time." The technician looked at Tang Chao and said.

"Then let's start, let us actually test its working ability."

As Tang Chao was talking, he paused suddenly, then lightly patted the table and said, "That's right, I also need to inform the Space Agency that our mission is about to begin, let them pay attention."

"Okay, I'm going to inform."

The space agency that Tang Chao said was of course Tianxia's space agency. As for why they had to notify that side, of course it was because they wanted to use Tianxia satellites for this experimental mission.

Of course, scrapped satellites.

The Worker Bee 1 is an engineering spacecraft. There are salvage and towing functions in it, and the newly launched module is the repair bay, so repairs must be done.

It is a pity that the development time of the leader is still short, and the satellites launched are still very "young", not only young, but also physically strong, without any problems.

It’s hot and healthy satellites, can’t you just pull over and repair them just to show the ability of the repair cabin?

Of course not.

So the navigator has to get a broken satellite for testing and then repair it.

He has cooperated with Tianxia officials so many times, and it has been half a century since Tianxia Space Agency launched Tianxia's first satellite.

Over the past half century, Tianxia has launched many satellites, and decades later, there must be satellites that have been scrapped.

Just like the goal this time, an obsolete communications satellite in low earth orbit.

In fact, it is not completely scrapped, it just runs out of fuel and can no longer keep on track, but its solar panels and communication system are fine, and it is still performing its mission stably.

However, this task will not last long, and within a few months, it will completely re-enter the atmosphere and be burned.

So in fact it was not completely scrapped, but the mission sequence had already been moved out, and the backup stars that replaced it had been in the sky for several months, so it was just right to experiment with him.

According to the navigator's tradition, this mission was also broadcast live, which is why he did not want to grab a scrapped satellite casually, but officially found the Tianxia Space Agency.

The audience watching the live broadcast found that the three thrusters of Sanbengzi had fired and began to shift orbits. They knew that the planned task was about to begin, and they all watched attentively.

According to the description of the mission, this is definitely the first space salvage, orbital maneuvering, pressurized cabin overhaul and hardware upgrade for mankind.

If the project started from the maintenance can be carried out, it will be the first time that mankind has repaired and upgraded obsolete satellites in the orbital pressurized maintenance cabin, and refueled.

Humans have done space maintenance before, repairing space stations, repairing telescopes, and so on, but it is the first time to repair a scrapped thing and upgrade it.

And with the flight of Worker Bee One, everyone saw what they would normally not see.

space garbage!

The scenes of space junk that people usually see are in science fiction movies or in public intelligence of the space agency.

It's just that in science fiction movies, everyone knows it is fake.

Although the public information of the space agency is true, the display of space junk is all data, or some small highlights, except for the name, people do not know that it is space junk.

Even if you are not a professional, you can't tell from the name.

The main reason is that the space junk tracking system of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is done by ground radar stations. Of course, the things they obtain are data. Although there are various optical observation satellites in space, those things are for looking at the ground. There is no time to look at the space junk "next to them" or even "over the head".

And whether you can see it is another matter.

Now it’s different. Now the Worker Bee 1 is heading towards the space junk, taking all the photos clearly.

The Worker Bee 1 was flying and found a bright light. After it flew close, it was discovered that it was a pile of spacecraft fragments. There was a big guy in the fragments, which seemed to be the upper stage of a rocket.

And that pile of spacecraft debris should not belong to this rocket, it looks more like it belongs to a certain satellite.

These two things were mixed together, and I didn't know that the upper stage of this rocket smashed the tragic satellite, or that the two were just a coincidence.

So far, there are thousands of artificial satellites orbiting the earth at different heights above the earth.

However, these are only the number of normal orbiting satellites. If the satellites that have been scrapped are included, this number will be much higher.

The "space junk" formed by these scrapped satellites, coupled with some messy things, will pose a huge threat to the normal operation of satellites.

Modern rocket launches require a series of research and analysis to finalize the plan. Avoiding junk is one of the key issues, because it directly affects the safety and integrity of the launched rocket and its payload.

In the early days of space exploration, scientists and space engineers did not think too much about the distant future of the satellites they launched. At that time, they were not worried about what would happen to the rockets and satellites that went into space, as long as they could enter space.

However, today, a large amount of space junk has accumulated in the Earth's orbit. Even a small-scale collision between two objects may trigger a chain reaction and even cause catastrophic consequences-just like the movie "Gravity".

Just like machines, man-made satellites have a definite lifespan, but unlike machines on earth, man-made satellites operate in space, which means that humans cannot deal with those satellites that are scrapped in a short period of time.

So, how will the scrapped satellite be handled?

There are two simple and crude methods.

One is to reduce the speed of the malfunctioning satellite, let it fall back to the earth, and burn out in the atmosphere during the reentry process.

Second, push the obsolete satellite to a higher orbit, so that it will continue to orbit the earth for hundreds of years, far away from normal satellites.

Artificial satellites are at different orbital altitudes according to their purpose. Some are very low, only a few hundred kilometers from the ground, such as the International Space Station.

Some satellites have very high orbits, tens of thousands of kilometers from the ground, such as geostationary satellites.

The method of disposing of obsolete satellites depends largely on how far they are from the earth.

The first is to solve it in a short time, and the earth’s atmosphere is directly burned out, and the second is to leave it to future generations. After the orbit is pushed up, at least a few hundred years are allowed. After a century or two, more advanced human technology can always solve it.

Well, people who believe in the future, they will definitely be able to solve these things.

Hehe.