June 24, 2020

Space Junk

Nothing to do with anything, but interesting . . .

Foam ‘spider webs’ from tiny satellites could help clean up space junk

By Mike Wall a day ago

The foam could even serve as a building material on Mars, if all goes according to plan.

A little foam-spewing spacecraft could make a big dent in the space-junk problem in the coming years.

The Russian startup StartRocket is developing a “Foam Debris Catcher,” a small, autonomous satellite that would snag and de-orbit space debris using sticky polymer foam.

“It’s like a spider web,” StartRocket founder Vlad Sitnikov told Space.com.

Earth orbit is cluttered with about 129 million pieces of debris, 34,000 of which are at least 4 inches (10 centimeters) wide, according to European Space Agency estimates. These objects are hurtling through space at tremendous speeds — 17,500 mph (28,200 km/h) in low-Earth orbit, for example — so even the tiny shards could seriously damage a satellite or spacecraft.

And the space-junk threat is rising, experts say, because we’re putting a lot more stuff into orbit than we used to — and the numbers are poised to go through the roof. Humanity has launched fewer than 10,000 satellites since the dawn of the space age in 1957. But SpaceX has secured permission to loft 12,000 craft just for its Starlink internet-satellite constellation and has applied for approval to launch up to 30,000 more.

A crowded orbital environment increases the risk of collisions. And just a few smashups involving satellites — be they operational or defunct — could spawn enormous new swarms of debris, potentially instigating a nightmare collision cascade known as the Kessler Syndrome. 

If we don’t take action soon, Sitnikov said, “we will be in jail. We will be in a prison made by debris.”

StartRocket wants the barrel-shaped Foam Debris Catcher to help keep us out of jail. The 110-lb. (50 kilograms) satellite would extrude lattices of foam when it gets close to debris clouds, trapping lots of junk. Atmospheric drag would then work on the encased debris, sending it down to its death in Earth’s atmosphere.

StartRocket isn’t alone in developing debris-mitigation tech. For example, some groups are working on systems that would harpoon space junk or snare it using net-launching guns. And others have devised friction-increasing “drag sails” that satellites could deploy near the ends of their lives, ensuring speedy destruction.

StartRocket has made progress on the foam but still needs to finalize the formula, said project leader Aleksei Fedorov, a chemical engineer. 

Nailing down the formula and testing it here on Earth is the first big milestone for the company to meet, Sitnikov and Fedorov said. The second milestone, targeted for 2022, is the launch of a cubesat that will extrude a test sample in Earth orbit, to make sure that the foam behaves as planned in the space environment. If that goes well, StartRocket will work toward lofting its first functional Foam Debris Catcher, potentially as early as 2023.

Development work in these early stages has been supported by Kaspersky, a Russian cybersecurity company owned by billionaire Eugene Kaspersky.

“The solution being developed by StartRocket is an interesting example of how technology is changing and can be used to reduce space debris,” Andrew Winton, vice president of marketing at Kaspersky, said in a statement. “We will watch the company’s development and product progression with great interest and look forward to supporting the cause in the coming years.”

But StartRocket — which made news in 2018 for a controversial plan, now on hold, to create advertisements in space using formation-flying satellites — is also looking to the masses to help fund the space-junk project going forward.

“We believe in the people — we’re going to ask people to give us money,” Sitnikov told Forbes. “It’s like Greenpeace — maybe we’ll be the second Greenpeace!”

The sticky-foam tech could also find uses far beyond Earth orbit, if everything goes according to plan. For example, Fedorov and Sitnikov envision the stuff, or something like it, eventually being employed as a cheap and efficient building material on Mars. 

A barrel could be sent to the Martian surface instead of huge metallic habitats. The barrel would expel a big half-sphere of foam, and “astronauts can use just a knife to make the building, the habitat,” Sitnikov said. 

• Space junk explained: How orbital debris threatens future of spaceflight (infographic)
• This space junk removal experiment will harpoon & net debris in orbit
• Latest news about space junk and orbital debris 

Mike Wall is the author of “Out There” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook. 

June 24, 2020

Space Junk

Nothing to do with anything, but interesting . . .

Foam ‘spider webs’ from tiny satellites could help clean up space junk

By Mike Wall a day ago

The foam could even serve as a building material on Mars, if all goes according to plan.

A little foam-spewing spacecraft could make a big dent in the space-junk problem in the coming years.

The Russian startup StartRocket is developing a “Foam Debris Catcher,” a small, autonomous satellite that would snag and de-orbit space debris using sticky polymer foam.

“It’s like a spider web,” StartRocket founder Vlad Sitnikov told Space.com.

Earth orbit is cluttered with about 129 million pieces of debris, 34,000 of which are at least 4 inches (10 centimeters) wide, according to European Space Agency estimates. These objects are hurtling through space at tremendous speeds — 17,500 mph (28,200 km/h) in low-Earth orbit, for example — so even the tiny shards could seriously damage a satellite or spacecraft.

And the space-junk threat is rising, experts say, because we’re putting a lot more stuff into orbit than we used to — and the numbers are poised to go through the roof. Humanity has launched fewer than 10,000 satellites since the dawn of the space age in 1957. But SpaceX has secured permission to loft 12,000 craft just for its Starlink internet-satellite constellation and has applied for approval to launch up to 30,000 more.

A crowded orbital environment increases the risk of collisions. And just a few smashups involving satellites — be they operational or defunct — could spawn enormous new swarms of debris, potentially instigating a nightmare collision cascade known as the Kessler Syndrome. 

If we don’t take action soon, Sitnikov said, “we will be in jail. We will be in a prison made by debris.”

StartRocket wants the barrel-shaped Foam Debris Catcher to help keep us out of jail. The 110-lb. (50 kilograms) satellite would extrude lattices of foam when it gets close to debris clouds, trapping lots of junk. Atmospheric drag would then work on the encased debris, sending it down to its death in Earth’s atmosphere.

StartRocket isn’t alone in developing debris-mitigation tech. For example, some groups are working on systems that would harpoon space junk or snare it using net-launching guns. And others have devised friction-increasing “drag sails” that satellites could deploy near the ends of their lives, ensuring speedy destruction.

StartRocket has made progress on the foam but still needs to finalize the formula, said project leader Aleksei Fedorov, a chemical engineer. 

Nailing down the formula and testing it here on Earth is the first big milestone for the company to meet, Sitnikov and Fedorov said. The second milestone, targeted for 2022, is the launch of a cubesat that will extrude a test sample in Earth orbit, to make sure that the foam behaves as planned in the space environment. If that goes well, StartRocket will work toward lofting its first functional Foam Debris Catcher, potentially as early as 2023.

Development work in these early stages has been supported by Kaspersky, a Russian cybersecurity company owned by billionaire Eugene Kaspersky.

“The solution being developed by StartRocket is an interesting example of how technology is changing and can be used to reduce space debris,” Andrew Winton, vice president of marketing at Kaspersky, said in a statement. “We will watch the company’s development and product progression with great interest and look forward to supporting the cause in the coming years.”

But StartRocket — which made news in 2018 for a controversial plan, now on hold, to create advertisements in space using formation-flying satellites — is also looking to the masses to help fund the space-junk project going forward.

“We believe in the people — we’re going to ask people to give us money,” Sitnikov told Forbes. “It’s like Greenpeace — maybe we’ll be the second Greenpeace!”

The sticky-foam tech could also find uses far beyond Earth orbit, if everything goes according to plan. For example, Fedorov and Sitnikov envision the stuff, or something like it, eventually being employed as a cheap and efficient building material on Mars. 

A barrel could be sent to the Martian surface instead of huge metallic habitats. The barrel would expel a big half-sphere of foam, and “astronauts can use just a knife to make the building, the habitat,” Sitnikov said. 

• Space junk explained: How orbital debris threatens future of spaceflight (infographic)
• This space junk removal experiment will harpoon & net debris in orbit
• Latest news about space junk and orbital debris 

Mike Wall is the author of “Out There” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook. 

June 22, 2020

Huntsman Updates Guidance

June 22, 2020Huntsman Updates its Second Quarter Outlook; To Discuss Second Quarter 2020Results on July 28, 2020THE WOODLANDS, Texas, June 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ —

Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN) today reaffirmed its overall general outlook for the second quarter 2020 and announced that overall sales for the quarter are expected to be down between approximately 30 to 35 percent versus last year. Huntsman noted that the sales trendsshowed improvement from April to May, and it expects to see this continued improvement through June.

Results in its Polyurethanes division are expected to be modestly better than expected as trends in China and in U.S. construction, including spray foam, are better than originally anticipated.

The better-than-expected results in Polyurethanes are being mostly offset by weaker-than-anticipated results in Huntsman’s Textiles Effects division due largely to the prolonged impact of mandated shutdowns in key textile manufacturing regions, and the expected recovery in the industry may not begin until the third quarter due to the continued lockdowns. Huntsman anticipates that adjusted EBITDA in its Textiles Effects division will likely be slightly negative for the second quarter. Huntsman expects that results in the Performance Products division will be in-line with the prior outlook, but the results in the Advanced Materials division may fall a little short of expectations as a result of a deeper trough in Aerospace, Europe, and India than anticipated at the time of its last quarterly earnings call.

Huntsman Corporation will hold a conference call on Tuesday, July 28, 2020, at 10:00 a.m.ET to discuss its second quarter 2020 financial results, which will be released at approximately 6:00 a.m. ET that day.

June 22, 2020

Huntsman Updates Guidance

June 22, 2020Huntsman Updates its Second Quarter Outlook; To Discuss Second Quarter 2020Results on July 28, 2020THE WOODLANDS, Texas, June 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ —

Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN) today reaffirmed its overall general outlook for the second quarter 2020 and announced that overall sales for the quarter are expected to be down between approximately 30 to 35 percent versus last year. Huntsman noted that the sales trendsshowed improvement from April to May, and it expects to see this continued improvement through June.

Results in its Polyurethanes division are expected to be modestly better than expected as trends in China and in U.S. construction, including spray foam, are better than originally anticipated.

The better-than-expected results in Polyurethanes are being mostly offset by weaker-than-anticipated results in Huntsman’s Textiles Effects division due largely to the prolonged impact of mandated shutdowns in key textile manufacturing regions, and the expected recovery in the industry may not begin until the third quarter due to the continued lockdowns. Huntsman anticipates that adjusted EBITDA in its Textiles Effects division will likely be slightly negative for the second quarter. Huntsman expects that results in the Performance Products division will be in-line with the prior outlook, but the results in the Advanced Materials division may fall a little short of expectations as a result of a deeper trough in Aerospace, Europe, and India than anticipated at the time of its last quarterly earnings call.

Huntsman Corporation will hold a conference call on Tuesday, July 28, 2020, at 10:00 a.m.ET to discuss its second quarter 2020 financial results, which will be released at approximately 6:00 a.m. ET that day.

June 22, 2020

Divestments Ahead

Total to Solvay Pursue Chemical Divestments as M&A Returns

Myriam Balezou, Andrew Noël and Dinesh Nair, Bloomberg News

A logo sits on the exterior of the Total SA skyscraper headquarters in the La Defense business district in Paris, France, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said he’s hopeful for a compromise with the U.S. on digital tax to avoid a transatlantic trade war. Photographer: Anita Pouchard Serra/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — European companies from Total SA to Solvay SA are pursuing divestments of chemical businesses, in one of the first tentative signs that mergers and acquisitions are starting to return in the region.

Total is considering a sale of its Cray Valley chemical-additives unit, which could fetch about $300 million to $500 million, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The French energy company has been speaking with potential advisers about a divestment, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

Arkema SA has separately started gauging interest in its plexiglass business, which could fetch about 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) for the French chemical producer, people familiar with the matter said. The company has sent potential bidders so-called teaser documents with an overview of the Altuglas International division, according to the people.

Companies have been seeking to offload peripheral businesses in a bid to boost returns and fend off criticism from activist investors. Carveouts by European companies hit a record last year and could rise further in 2020 as firms seek to weather the after-effects of the coronavirus pandemic, a top Credit Suisse Group AG dealmaker said last week.

Streamlining Operations

Some chemical producers have been able to ride through the crisis relatively unscathed, particularly those making products like cleaning solvents and protective sheets which are seeing increased sales. A gauge of European chemical companies has risen 1.8% over the past 12 months, bucking the 5.4% decline in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index.

Solvay SA is also exploring a sale of two units as Chief Executive Officer Ilham Kadri pushes ahead with efforts to streamline the Belgian chemical maker, people with knowledge of the matter said. The potential divestments include a unit that works with the compound strontium carbonate, which could fetch around 150 million euros, and another making chemicals used in shampoo and dishwashing products, the people said.

The volume of dealmaking globally has fallen 47% this year to $991 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Some shelved deal processes have been revived in recent weeks, with Bridgepoint preparing to restart a bidding process for Iberian agrochemical business Rovensa, Bloomberg News reported this month.

Sasol Sale

Arkema’s Altuglas sale is attracting initial interest from private equity firms including Advent International, Rhone, SK Capital Partners and Triton Partners, the people said. The business produces polymethyl methacrylate-based plastics, which are used in car parts like headlights as well as building materials. Colombes, France-based Arkema hasn’t decided when to seek first-round bids and could wait until after summer to formally solicit offers, one of the people said.

Beyond Europe, Sasol Ltd. is attracting interest in a large stake it’s selling in the Lake Charles chemical complex in the U.S. The South African company has received offers from Ineos Group Ltd., Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. and LyondellBasell Industries NV for the holding, which could fetch more than $2 billion, people familiar with the matter said earlier this month.

All the companies’ deliberations are at an early stage, and there’s no certainty the suitors will submit bids, the people said.

Representatives for Total, Arkema, Advent, Rhone, SK and Triton declined to comment. A spokesman for Solvay said the chemical group has a clear plan to unlock value and regularly receives approaches, particularly after last year’s strategy update. He declined to comment further. A spokesman for Sasol said the firm’s asset disposal process had yielded “good interest from strong contenders.”