Watch A Satellite Get Obliterated In A Plasma Wind Tunnel To Prove It Can't Reach Earth - IFLScience
The plasma wind tunnel takes no prisoners.
Manufacturers call this Design for Demise (D4D), an initiative the European Space Agency (ESA) is pushing as part of an effort to minimize space junk. .
This is one such demonstration, provided by ESA in partnership with Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace, who are proving that their Solar Array Drive Module (that is, a structural bit of machinery that turns the solar panels to always face the Sun) will never reach the ground should it reenter the atmosphere. In the video below, they use a plasma wind tunnel to simulate the conditions of reentry, and the results speak for themselves.Â