My name is Warisa Jaidee-Isee. I am 18 years old and currently studying at UWC Atlantic College, in Wales, UK. I would like to share with you my passion and dreams to explore the Universe. When I was 15, I attended the “APSCO Youth Space Contest”, organised by the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO). I had a chance to share my idea about space science with my friends from the ASPCO member states in Beijing, China during 15-21 July 2017. Here is my idea under the theme “Future Space Homeland”.
To be able to live in space, there’s one important thing that people tend to overlook – the problem of space debris. We already know that when we invent a spacecraft and send it up into Earth’s orbit, it will one day no longer be of use and it will become space debris, drifting around in orbit or entering the vast outer space. These debris are dangerous because they could collide with new spacecraft sent up there. At the end of the day, the more space debris, the less resources we have on Earth. Therefore, if the future homelands of humanity are, supposedly, the new planets, we should consider clearing the space debris out of space for our own safety. My space debris clean-up beetle: “Debris bug” would be needed to set up a new space home.
Applying the Technology
“Debris bug” is able to communicate with and accept instruction through radio waves. When it finds garbage in space, the “beetle” releases a magnetic network to capture it. It will then bring back the space debris to the base for recycling and reuse.
Picture of my Idea Sketch
My main concept is the word “PRECYCLE” from pre and recycle. Pre-cycle is to re-design the spacecraft into a module that could be detached in a certain pattern with a tracking microchip that can be easily collected
Purpose of the design and function are as follows:
– To reuse the unused space debris.
– To recycle the space debris into new use.
– To clear the orbital path and make the space ready for human beings to go and live there in the future.
PICTURE OF MY MODEL: I built my model out of recycled materials, such as milk bottle and cap, juice carton and scrap paper.
My design consists of 2 main modules, which are the Mother ship and Crew ships, called Debris Bugs. The Mother ship will contain the small ships called “Debris Bugs”. In space, the Mother ship will release the Debris Bugs and let them drift away to search for the space debris by using their censors. The debris bugs will grab the chunk of space debris by their clawed legs and take control of the velocity. They will then load them in, taking them back to the Mother ship. When encountering small and scattered debris, they will grab those by releasing their magnetic nets to wrap around the junk. The debris bugs will then drag them back to the Mother ship, after which the Mother ship will return to the base. The Mother ship and Debris Bugs are controlled from the base and can also communicate by using radio waves to send signals to the antennas. The antennas will capture those signals and process the information coming from them.
It was a great time and fun activity to attend a platform of cultural exchange and idea collision with friends that have the same interests in the Universe. It also inspired and motivated me to look further into space science and technology. I wish to attend more space activities in the future.
You can find more youth activities in space science and aerospace industry from http://www.apsco.int/html/comp1/content/NewGenerationCultivating/2018-07-05/66-178-1.shtml
