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Space junk is becoming a serious problem as more and more companies launch their satellites into orbit. Once these units stop working, they continue to float in space, posing a danger to future launches and other satellites.
That is why the European Space Agency (ESA) has an aggressive new plan to address this issue. He is planning to launch a huge claw that grabs space junk and returns it to Earth’s atmosphere. From there, it safely burns on reentry and no longer poses a threat to functional bodies in orbit.
Clean up the space
To be clear, ESA has been planning to use this technique for some time. The agency originally conceived the plan in 2019. However, it is only now ready to begin construction of its giant space claw.
He’s working with a Swiss startup called ClearSpace to build and launch the claw. The mission, dubbed ClearSpace-1, will reportedly launch in 2025. Of course, that timeline remains fluid given the experimental nature of this project and the potential delays caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The deal with ClearSpace is worth $ 103 million.
The project is interesting (and important) regardless of the time it takes to launch. Space junk won’t disappear anytime soon without some sort of intervention. While there are many viable strategies out there, this is perhaps one of the easiest to implement.
ESA’s claw will first target a piece of junk that has been orbiting the planet since 2013. It is a 112-kilogram secondary payload adapter that helped launch a Vega rocket for the agency. Since it’s about the size of a small satellite, ESA believes it will be a good test of the claw’s capabilities.
Unique approach
In 2019, the US Space Surveillance Network found that there are nearly 20,000 man-made objects orbiting the Earth. That includes 2,200 operational satellites (a number that has grown rapidly thanks to companies like SpaceX). However, most of these bodies are simply junk left over from previous launches.
Each poses a risk to future space missions as a high-speed collision in orbit would be nothing short of disastrous. The 20,000 objects shown above are only those that are large enough to be tracked. Researchers estimate that there are millions of smaller fragments that can cause severe damage to spacecraft.
It is clear that space junk is becoming a serious problem. The International Space Station has had to dodge the remains of old Russian satellites on two occasions in the past six years. As more garbage is added to Earth’s orbit each year, the problem will get worse.
In a statement, ESA states: “ClearSpace-1 will demonstrate the technical ability and commercial capability to significantly improve the long-term sustainability of space flight.”
It will be interesting to see how the claw-based removal system works. If successful, the future of spaceflight would be much safer.
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