Innovative Small Satellite Tackles Space Junk at Low Cost

A student-built cube satellite called SBUDNIC, designed to tackle the issue of space debris, has successfully re-entered Earth's atmosphere about five years earlier than planned. The satellite, built on a shoestring budget using off-the-shelf supplies, featured a plastic drag sail made from Kapton polyimide, which helped push it back down to Earth more quickly. The project demonstrated a low-cost method to deorbit space junk after mission life has ended, potentially impacting efforts to reduce space debris. With over 27,000 pieces of orbital debris being tracked, the success of SBUDNIC highlights the effectiveness of cost-effective solutions in combating the space junk problem.