To avoid creating space junk that could be hazardous, the European Space Agency (ESA) is testing ways to create satellites that are sturdy enough to do its job but also safely burn up while falling back to Earth once its mission is complete.
The way to do this is pretty cool: ESA purposely destroyed a model satellite component called the solar array drive mechanism (SADM), which is one of the bulkiest part of the satellite, inside a plasma wind tunnel.
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Video clip credit: ESA/DLR
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