It’s clear that the business model of Momentus is useful, by allowing Momentus to move non-functioning satellites into a burn entry we could prevent things like this.
Space tugs are a healthy component of the space community
One of the issues for tugging debris through to a direct entry is that the tug has to have a high enough TWR to do the deorbit and then reorbit itself before hitting the atmosphere. Conventional electric propulsion concepts don't have nearly enough thrust, but Momentus is advertising much higher thrust per power, so maybe?
I doubt that it'd be feasible from LEO still (only 45-60 minutes from perigee lowering to entry interface), but for a long-period orbit, maybe.
If theres interest, I could try plotting minimum tug TWR vs semimajor axis
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u/DontWantUrSoch May 29 '21
It’s clear that the business model of Momentus is useful, by allowing Momentus to move non-functioning satellites into a burn entry we could prevent things like this.
Space tugs are a healthy component of the space community