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AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
InventorAndrew J. Petro
Estimating the term…
An orbital debris sweeper is provided for removing particles from orbit which otherwise may impact and damage an orbiting spacecraft. The debris sweeper includes a central sweeper core which carries a debris monitoring unit, and a plurality of large area impact panels rotatable about a central sweeper rotational axis. In response to information from the debris monitoring unit, a computer determines whether individual monitored particles preferably impact one of the rotating panels or pass between the rotating panels. A control unit extends or retracts one or more booms which interconnect the sweeper core and the panels to change the moment of inertia of the sweeper and thereby the rotational velocity of the rotating panels. According to the method of the present invention, the change in panel rotational velocity increases the frequency of particles which desirably impact one of the panels and are thereby removed from orbit, while large particles which may damage the impact panels pass between the trailing edge of one panel and the leading edge of the rotationally succeeding panel.
An orbital debris sweeper for removing particles from orbit which otherwise may impact and damage an orbiting spacecraft, the orbital debris sweeper comprising:
An orbital debris sweeper for removing from orbit particles having a trajectory monitored by a debris monitoring unit, the orbital debris sweeper comprising:
A method of removing particles from orbit, the method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.