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[i]tiny 8.5 lb ESTCube-2 will test an elegant method to potentially help clear the skies' increasingly worrisome space junk issue using a novel "plasma brake." Designed by Finnish Meteorological Institute physicist Pekka Janhunen, the electric sail (E-sail) technology harnesses the physics underlying Earth's ionosphere — the atmosphere's electrically charged outer layer. Once in orbit, Estonia's ESTCube - 2 will deploy a nearly 165-foot-long tether composed of hair-thin aluminum wires that, once charged via solar power, will repel the almost motionless plasma within the ionosphere. ... If successful, the drag should slow down the tiny cubesat enough to shorten its orbital decay time to just a two-year lifespan. Not only that, but it would do so without any physical propellant source, thus offering a lightweight, low-cost alternative to existing satellite decommissioning options.[/i]
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