How to Alleviate an Orbital Traffic Jam


How to Alleviate an Orbital Traffic Jam -- Phil Berardelli  -- Science  -- July 28, 2010
Solar Sails

There's gridlock in orbit. More than 400 telecommunications satellites, plus an indeterminate number of retired, failed, and secret spacecraft, occupy a narrow band of space some 35,000 kilometers above Earth's equator. Now, researchers have found a way to alleviate the congestion: attaching solar sails to satellites that would propel them 10 to 30 kilometers north or south of the standard orbit.

[ Comments ]

    follow me on Twitter