After long weeks of mystery, Steve Wozniak’s new space startup revealed they will not clean space trash but instead create the first accurate space map of low orbit objects. Wozniak founded Privateer Space with Alex Fielding, a member of the first iMac team and former CEO of Robotics company Ripcord, Inc. Both worked together in 2002 when they created Wheels of Zeus, a company that developed a technology that worked much like the AirTag but was available more than 20 years before Apple’s product.
Earth’s lower orbit is crowded with millions of pieces of small debris, larger space junk, dead and operating satellites, and spacecraft. Satellite network launches are increasing and space programs and private companies take to space exploration and space tourism like never before. The sector has identified space traffic as a serious problem and while different organizations track objects, none are 100% exhaustive and accurate.
Alex Fielding told TechCrunch that Privateer Space was from the start dedicated not to space junk clean-up but to becoming the "Google Maps of space." Fielding said that space junk consequences are underestimated. “I still am very, very, very afraid that we’re too late, that we’re probably within 24 months of the first on-orbit human space casualty,” Fielding told TechCrunch. Wozniak’s company has also developed and will be demonstrating innovative new green technology.
Privateer Space's first satellite, “Pono 1,” is set to launch in February 2022. This next-generation satellite is not only half a foot in size but is a single solid piece printed in 3-D out of carbon fiber. The spacecraft will operate using a unique magnetic system, requiring no thruster propellant fuels. The spacecraft is designed to scan space objects with extreme precision using an array of 42 sensors and cameras.
Privateer Space will also demonstrate how green tech spacecraft could execute a sustainable end-of-life deorbiting program. After four months of operation, their first satellite will intentionally vaporize itself in a controlled deorbit into the Earth’s atmosphere. Privateer Space is also working with Astroscale, a company specializing in space debris removal systems, and with the US Space Force, which is currently tracking space junk and intends to maintain a strong presence in lower earth orbits for matters of national security. Wozniak is committed to creating the first accurate map of space objects in lower Earth orbits, and Fielding says that if this work is not conducted the consequences could be “fatal”.
Source: TechCrunch
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