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Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) has shipped the RemoveDEBRIS spacecraft to the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida for launch to the International Space Station (ISS). RemoveDEBRIS is an Active Debris Removal (ADR) demonstration mission led by the Surrey Space Centre at the University of Surrey. Once in orbit the ADR experiments on board the spacecraft will be performed. In the first of two capture experiments a net will be discharged to demonstrate net capture in space. The second capture experiment will see a harpoon launched at a deployable target plate made of representative satellite panel materials. The third experiment involves vision-based navigation by deploying the second cubesat and demonstrating rendezvous navigation using cameras and a LiDAR. Finally, the RemoveDEBRIS spacecraft will deploy a large dragsail to speed de-orbit, where it will burn up as it enters Earthâs atmosphere.Â
www.sstl.co.uk
