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The European Space Agency (ESA) has signed an agreement with ClearSpace SA to clean up the orbit with vessels equipped with grippers designed to capture space junk.
As space agencies and private companies move beyond research and begin exploring the potential of commercial space and tourism, the space “junk” we are accumulating will grow.
This is a serious problem, considering that the smallest satellite or defunct piece of technology that magnifies at thousands of meters per second, if it collides with boats or other objects, can cause massive damage that even sends more debris into space.
To address the problem, ESA has signed a € 86 million contract with startup ClearSpace to fund and launch debris removal missions.
Due to launch in 2025, the first active debris removal mission, called ClearSpace-1, will project an aircraft into space equipped with grippers capable of capturing satellites. In this test, ESA says ClearSpace boats “will encounter, capture and drop a Vespa payload adapter for reentry.”
ClearSpace
The adapter, a remnant from a 2013 mission, has a mass of 112 kg and is about the size of a small satellite.
“Space cleaning is no longer optional,” ClearSpace says in its mission statement. “The removal of man-made space debris has become necessary and it is our responsibility to ensure that the generations of tomorrow can continue to benefit from space infrastructure and exploration.”
ClearSpace was selected from 12 candidates in 2019 by ESA to develop a commercial debris removal solution for space.
ESA is only partially funding the mission, and the agency intends to raise the rest of the cost of the mission from commercial investors interested in the technology.
See also: Intel sends AI into space to launch a satellite the size of a cereal box
According to ESA’s latest Space Environment report, there are over 25,000 objects in space – including satellites and various pieces of debris – and rocket bodies, upper stages remaining from launches, and malfunctioning satellites that cannot be deorbitated are forms of junk space. which causes the greatest concern.
Most of the items on the list were launched before 2000, and modern guidelines for space junk mitigation have been adopted by space agencies.
In October, IBM revealed a separate project designed to address the emerging space junk problem. A new open source adventure between the tech giant and Dr. Moriba Jah of the University of Texas at Austin focuses on predicting where space objects are in orbit and where they are likely to go.
By accurately predicting future orbital positions through the creation of machine learning (ML) -based algorithms, this could help companies like ClearSpace track junk and clean up orbit more effectively.
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