Bran

US-based technical and scientific research, development, and advisory services provider, Aerospace has secured a Nasa grant to develop Brane Craft, an extremely thin spacecraft concept that would wrap around space debris and remove it from Earth’s orbit.

The 1m² Brane Craft spacecraft model weighs around 50g and is less than half the thickness of a human hair.

Due to its size, the spacecraft is very lightweight, manoeuvrable and fuel-efficient.

The Brane Craft is one of 13 ideas that were selected for Nasa Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) programme, which provides $100,000 for nine months of research, with option for another $500,000 for two more years if the results are encouraging.

Brane Craft project lead investigator Dr Siegfried Janson said: "The Brane Craft concept is based on the one-dimensional compression of a complete spacecraft and upper stage into an essentially two-dimensional object in order to maximise power-to-weight and aperture-to-weight ratios."

"Sending conventional spacecraft, even CubeSats, to each of the thousands of 10cm or larger debris objects for active deorbiting is prohibitively expensive."

"Sending conventional spacecraft, even CubeSats, to each of the thousands of 10cm or larger debris objects for active deorbiting is prohibitively expensive."

Once developed, the 30-micron-thick Brane Craft would be able of travel long distances, which opens up other areas beyond just the removal of space debris.

Janson added: "Brane Craft prospectors could land on any near-Earth asteroid, Phobos, Deimos, a wide variety of main belt asteroids, or orbit Mars or Venus, and return."

In order to develop the spacecraft several existing technologies such as thin film solar cells and electrospray thrusters to propel the craft through space; electrostatic polymers to change its shape; film transistors, super-flat cameras, and other technologies could be adapted.

Image: An artist’s conception of Brane Craft about to capture a piece of space debris. Photo: courtesy of Aerospace.