Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) has repositioned its UK-DMC-1 spacecraft using unspent propellant to reduce the orbital lifetime and the probability of generating space debris.
UK-DMC-1’s manoeuvres were designed to deplete the remaining butane in the propellant tanks following industry best practice relating to orbital debris.
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Depletion of the propellant ensures that there are no on-board pressure sources that could cause the spacecraft to break-up causing space debris population.
The manoeuvres have also brought the satellite closer to Earth and reduced the time before atmospheric re-entry by over 100 years, also reducing the probability of orbital collisions in the future.
UK-DMC-1 was part of the disaster monitoring constellation and carries a first-generation medium-resolution 32m ground sample distance (GSD) multispectral imager.
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By GlobalData
