Estonia’s ESTCube-2 satellite is set for takeoff this week with an ambitious mission: the first demonstration of “plasma brake” technology to deorbit satellites faster and help reduce space debris. To achieve this, ESTCube-2 will also for the first time use electric sail (or e-sail) technology. This is a type of tether devised by Pekka Janhunen of the Finnish Meterological Institute (FMI) as a propellant-free mechanism of exploring the Solar System. The satellite’s e-sail is an interweaved aluminium tether line 50 metres in length. It’s made up of 50-micrometre wires, no bigger than the average human hair. In low-Earth orbit, the…

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