Ian Dargin from Ironstar Engineering presenting PRRISM at #orbitaldebris2019 - a method for directing solar wind to remove small #spacedebris without needing to be in the same orbit.
PRRISM redirects solar plasma through the polar cusps to create an intercept solution for debris in polar orbit
PRRISM would be located at 10 Earth radii [not sure how it would be able to target small debris from that distance - maybe that will be addressed later in the talk]
We're getting a "robust" tutorial on solar wind and polar cusp, but not much on the PRRISM solution
A spacecraft upstream in the solar wind provides information to PRRISM spacecraft. Target computer on PRRISM finds target solution [not explained] to accelerate plasma towards debris in LEO. Target example is 2 cm object at 500 km
Looks like an interesting concept, but no details offered and I see many substantial challenges to implementation. More work needed!
Apologies, first name is John (Jan)
Some tough questions from the audience [valid concerns being raised I think] but also some encouragement from Darren McKnight for taking a novel approach to the #spacedebris remediation challenge
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.