Find out how a balloon , fill with nothing more than helium , can pull a satellite down to earth .
Although it ’s potential to speak in activity motion-picture show clichés when peach about satellite , it is all important to talk in specific action movie clichés . It ’s amazingly easy to ‘ take out ’ a satellite . As big hunk of electronics equipment traveling at very mellow swiftness , planet are vulnerable to any kind of debris whizzing by them . It is , however , astonishingly hard to ‘ take down ’ a planet , especially one very far up . Many satellites , when they ’ve outlived their utility , just keep orbiting . Sometimes they smash into other orbiter , yield junk that can take out even more satellites .
Now that satellites have been established as airborne hydras , only getting more powerful as they are chopped up , how can a balloon work them down ?

The answer lies in how orbiter orbit . They do n’t so much vanish as fall – with dash . The canonic idea of satellites is that they do n’t bear on aside from the ground , they outrace it . shed a ball and graveness deplume it down to the undercoat . Launch the ball out of a canon , and gravity still pulls with the same personnel . The ball travels farther because it go faster , but it still lands on the ground . To make an orbiting orbiter , the ball needs to be thrown so far that the bend of the earth drop away under it . Every 8,000 metre the earth drops down 5 meter . If the ball proceed 8000 meters in the time it film to omit 5 meters , it will fall around the world forever .
This is a challenge at ground level . For one thing , the common enjoyment of iPods and cellphone earphone makes people slow to respond to a call of ‘ straits , ’ with what would be tragic results . For another , wind ohmic resistance at ground level is very high . It takes a lot to keep the orbiter going .
As the satellite gets higher up , it draw a wider arc around the earth , and so has to move quicker . It ’s helped along , though , by the culture medium it make a motion through . As the altitude gets high , standard pressure gets thin . Coupled with the fact that ground ’s gravitational puff drops sharply the far an object drive from the surface of the earth , and high-pitched - altitude satellites have an loose time falling around the earth and not down to it . Some estimates say it would take century of years for a planet to fall and burn up in earth ’s air .

How does a balloon help with this ? Well , it go in the same way chute that explode behind racing cars do – it provides pull . The balloon , and the gas to fill it , would go up with the orbiter . Once the artificial satellite had survive its usefulness , the balloon would fill with gasoline and be pulled behind the planet . The balloon , would make the most of the sparse atmosphere that the artificial satellite had , retard the satellite down more and more . finally the satellite would not be falling around the world , simply toward it . It would participate the regular standard pressure and burn up .
There are some limitations to balloons . They ca n’t be used on the high satellites , since they need some air to be effective . And they ’re less effectual than the satellite simply using some of its fuel to tug itself back to earth on its own . Fuel , though , is more precious and overweight than a balloon and some gasolene . When establish a satellite into range , every pound assist , and balloon are an efficient manipulation of impounding .
ViaThe Tech , GMA , andNew Scientist .

Also see io9 ’s clause ongolden balloon that could be used to clear space junk .
https://gizmodo.com/clean-up-space-junk-with-giant-golden-balloons-5604799
Image via Carlye Calvin / UCAR

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