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Canadian Military to Develop a Satellite for Capturing Images of Space Objects
The dreams of exploring the space would end up in accumulation of old, inactive satellites, spent rocket bodies and other man-made space junk in orbit, posing a risk of collisions and disablement of satellites, nobody would have ever thought of this problem.
This is a recent issue of concern for the scientists and termed as 'space pollution'. The harms can be more than one can imagine. Collision with operational satellites and manmade spacecraft can prove potentially disastrous.
But there are some, who want the space mess to be cleaned up so that it becomes safer for other operations.
It is known that several Ottawa companies are assisting Canadian military to 'turn away such a catastrophe'.
It has been planned by the Department of National Defense that it will launch an autonomous spacecraft for capturing pictures of hundreds of space objects every day. The space craft orbit at an altitude of around 800 kilometers.
Christened the Sapphire Satellite, the space craft is going to be 150-kilogram in weight and it will watch objects suspended at 40,000 kilometers above the Earth in the space.
The satellite is going to be a contributing antenna to the United States Space Surveillance Network and this in turn will help Canada to have a look on the information which would be important for them to save their county.
Ron Holdway, Vice President of Government Relations at COM DEV said, "It is important for us because it defines a place for us, a niche in space satellite activity".
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