Space Junk Cleanup Breakthrough: Ion Engine Exhaust Could Blast Debris Out of Orbit
The Ion Engine Exhaust Method: Blasting Debris with Plasma In this novel concept, a cleanup satellite approaches a piece of orbital debris and fires a stream of plasma (electrically charged gas) from an ion thruster to gradually slow the object’s orbital speed space.com. Slowing an object causes its orbit to decay; eventually it reenters the atmosphere and burns up harmlessly. The key innovation by Kazunori Takahashi of Tohoku University is a bi-directional plasma thruster that solves a fundamental problem: when you shoot an ion beam one way, Newton’s third law pushes your spacecraft the opposite way space.com. Takahashi’s design mounts