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“Worker Bee One, its name is Worker Bee One.”

Oh, that space rickshaw… Ugh, who the hell came up with that nickname? Just because it has three thrusters, it’s a rickshaw?

Adding “space” in front makes it sound high-end?

The moment Tang Chao saw the comments, he wanted to start cursing, but he remembered it wouldn't be a good look.

I'm a public figure.

So, he held back.

Its name is “Worker Bee One.” It’s an orbital engineering spacecraft, specializing in salvaging, towing, and providing temporary assistance to orbital facilities.

The other equipped spacecraft is called “Worker Bee Two.” They both belong to the industrial zone's orbital mobile facilities.

Currently, there are only two, but they belong to the “Worker Bee Class” orbital spacecraft, a type of small orbital spacecraft specifically designed for work. As larger space facilities increase in the future, their numbers will also increase accordingly.

Sitting in the command seat, Tang Chao asked the technical staff, “How is Worker Bee One's status?”

“Everything is perfect, Director Tang. We can start the mission at any time,” the technician said, looking at Tang Chao.

“Then let's begin and actually test its working capabilities.”

As Tang Chao spoke, he suddenly paused, then lightly slapped the table and said, “Oh right, we also need to notify the Space Administration and tell them that our mission is about to begin, so they should pay attention.”

“Okay, I'll go notify them immediately.”

The Space Administration Tang Chao mentioned was, of course, Tianxia's Space Administration. As for why he needed to notify them, it was because their experimental mission involved Tianxia's satellites.

Of course, the defunct satellites.

Worker Bee One is an engineering spacecraft, after all. Its functions include salvaging and towing, and the latest launched module is a maintenance bay. Maintenance definitely requires something to be maintained.

Unfortunately, Pioneer has not been developing for very long, and the satellites it has launched are still very “young.” Not only are they young, but they’re also in excellent condition, without any problems.

We can't just drag a perfectly healthy satellite over for a repair just to show off the capabilities of the maintenance bay, can we?

Of course not.

Therefore, Pioneer needs to acquire a broken satellite for testing and repair.

He has cooperated with Tianxia's government so many times, and it has been half a century since Tianxia's Space Administration launched Tianxia's first satellite.

Over these past five decades, Tianxia has launched many satellites, and after so many years, there must be some that are defunct.

Like their target this time, a defunct communication satellite in low Earth orbit.

Actually, it’s not completely defunct. It just ran out of fuel and can no longer maintain its orbit, but its solar panels and communication systems are fine and are still stably performing their tasks.

However, this task won't last much longer. In a few months, it will completely re-enter the atmosphere and be burned up.

So, it’s not completely defunct, but it has already been removed from the mission sequence. The backup satellite that replaced it has been in orbit for several months, making it perfect for this experiment.

According to Pioneer's tradition, this mission is also being broadcast live, which is why he didn't just grab any defunct satellite but formally contacted Tianxia's Space Administration.

The viewers watching the live broadcast noticed that the three thrusters of the rickshaw ignited and began to change orbit, realizing that the planned mission was about to begin. They all watched attentively.

According to the mission description, this would definitely be humanity's first space salvage, orbital maneuvering, pressurized cabin inspection, and hardware upgrade.

If the project starting with the repair can proceed, it will also be humanity's first time repairing, upgrading, and refueling a defunct satellite in an orbital pressurized maintenance bay.

Previously, humans have done space repairs, like repairing space stations and telescopes, but repairing a defunct object and upgrading it is truly a first.

Moreover, as Worker Bee One flew, everyone saw things they usually couldn't see.

Space junk!

Usually, people see images of space junk in science fiction movies or in the space agency's public information.

However, everyone knows it’s fake in science fiction movies.

Although the space agency's public information is real, the space junk is displayed as data or small bright spots. Besides the names, people don't know what they are.

Even non-professionals can't tell anything from the names.

The main reason is that the space agency's space junk tracking system is done by ground radar stations. What they get is, of course, data. Although there are various optical observation satellites in space, those things are for looking at the ground. They don't have time to look at the space junk “next” to them or even “above” them.

And whether they can see it is another matter.

Now it's different. Now, Worker Bee One is heading towards space junk, filming everything clearly.

As Worker Bee One flew, it discovered a bright light. After flying closer, it discovered it was a pile of spacecraft fragments. Among the fragments was a large object, which seemed to be an upper stage of a rocket.

The pile of spacecraft fragments didn't seem to belong to this rocket. They looked more like they belonged to a certain satellite.

These two things were mixed together. It was unclear whether the rocket's upper stage crashed into that tragic satellite or whether the two just happened to drift together.

To date, there are thousands of artificial satellites orbiting the Earth at different altitudes above the Earth.

However, these are just the number of satellites normally in orbit. If you also count the defunct satellites, this number will be much higher.

These defunct satellites, plus some miscellaneous things, form “space junk,” which poses a huge threat to normally operating satellites.

Modern rocket launches require a series of studies and analyses before a plan can be finalized. Avoiding the junk problem is a key issue, as it directly affects the safety and integrity of the launched rocket and its payload.

In the early days of space exploration, scientists and space engineers didn't think much about the distant future of the satellites they launched. At that time, they weren't worried about what would happen to the rockets and satellites after they became defunct in space, as long as they could get into space.

However, today, a large amount of space junk has accumulated in Earth's orbit. Even a small-scale collision between two objects can trigger a chain reaction, even causing catastrophic consequences—like in the movie *Gravity*.

Like machines, artificial satellites also have a clear lifespan, but unlike machines on Earth, artificial satellites operate in space, which means humans cannot handle those defunct satellites in a short period of time.

So, how are defunct satellites handled?

There are two simple and crude methods.

First, reduce the speed of the malfunctioning satellite and let it fall back to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere during re-entry.

Second, push the defunct satellite into a higher orbit, so it will continue to orbit the Earth for hundreds of years, away from normal satellites.

Artificial satellites are at different orbital altitudes depending on their purpose. Some are very low, only a few hundred kilometers from the ground, such as the International Space Station at a few hundred kilometers.

While some satellites have very high orbits, tens of thousands of kilometers from the ground, such as geostationary satellites.

The method of handling defunct satellites largely depends on how far they are from Earth.

The former is a short-term solution, directly letting the Earth's atmosphere burn it up. The latter is left to future generations, pushing it into a higher orbit and leaving at least a few hundred years. After a century or two, more advanced human technology can always solve it.

Well, believe in the people of the future, they will definitely be able to solve these things.

Hehe.