Terminator Tape Helps Deorbit Satellites

More and more satellites are going into orbit each year. However, as satellites break down and become nonoperational in orbit, an increasing problem is how to remove them from orbit when they are no longer needed. Several companies are working on ways to help clean up space debris, and one of those companies is Millennium Space Systems.

The company is showing off a product called the Terminator Tape Deorbit Module, described as a lightweight solution for the disposal of satellites helping to reduce space debris and clutter. The spacecraft that showed off the deorbiting system is called DragRacer. To test the system, two identical satellites were placed into orbit and deployed simultaneously.

One of the satellites had a tether, and the other did not. After eight months in space, the satellite equipped with a 66-foot-long Terminator Tape tether burned up on re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. The satellite lacking tether is on a deorbit path and will naturally burn up in the atmosphere in the next seven years.

The Terminator Tape system works by adding drag to the satellite causing the satellites to reenter the atmosphere and burn up faster. “With drag tape, we significantly reduce the time it remains space debris, and it’s one less piece of debris to track.”, said Patrick Kelly, Ph.D., Dragracer program manager at Millennium Space Systems.