These wrecks are made up of parts of old satellites, as well as entire extinct satellites and rocket bodies. The wreckage poses risks to the International Space Station and threatens things we consider natural on Earth – weather, GPS and telecommunications. It is a problem that is getting worse with more and more satellites being launched each year by ventures like Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
A demonstration mission to test the new technology developed by the company Astroscale to clean up space debris is scheduled to be launched early on Saturday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
A Soyuz 2 rocket will launch a 175-kilogram spacecraft with a satellite connected to space. The 17-kg spacecraft and satellite – the debris to be cleaned – will separate and then play a high-risk cat and mouse game in the coming months.
Astroscale will test the spacecraft’s ability to capture a satellite and bring it into Earth’s atmosphere, where it will ignite. It will do it in a series of different maneuvers, with the mission ending in September or October this year.
As part of the mission, the company will test whether the spacecraft can catch and dock with the satellite as it drops through space at up to 17,500 miles per hour – several times faster than the speed of a bullet.
The tests have a magnetic fitting plate to fit the satellite. Astroscale said it expects all new satellites being launched to have this docking plate, allowing them to be safely removed at the end of their useful life. In addition, Astroscale said it has already signed an agreement with internet satellite company OneWeb.
“Now is the time to take the debris threat seriously by committing to debris removal programs and preparing satellites for future removal at the end of your life,” said John Auburn, managing director of Astroscale UK and commercial director of the group .
“Avoiding catastrophic collisions will help protect the space ecosystem and ensure that all orbits continue to prosper sustainably for generations to come.”
Astroscale is based in Japan, but the mission is being controlled from the United Kingdom.
Robotic nets, harpoons and arms
The technology being tested in this mission is aimed at removing satellites yet to be launched and does not address the debris problem already in space. However, the company is working with JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, on its first rubble removal project.
Other space agencies, institutions and companies are also working on technology to remove space debris.
ClearSpace 1, the European Space Agency’s mission to remove space debris from orbit, is scheduled for launch in 2025. This mission will use four robotic arms to capture the wreckage.
A demonstration mission in 2018 successfully deployed a network to collect space debris, the first successful demonstration of space cleaning technology. The RemoveDebris experiment is conducted by a consortium of companies and researchers led by the UK’s Surrey Space Center and includes Airbus, Airbus-owned Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. and the Ariane Group in France. He also tried a method using a harpoon.
There are at least 26,000 pieces of space debris orbiting the Earth that are the size of a softball or larger and can destroy a satellite on impact; more than 500,000 the size of a marble large enough to cause damage to spacecraft or satellites; and more than 100 million pieces of debris the size of a grain of salt that could pierce a space suit, according to a January report from NASA.
In fact, the report said, the pieces of space debris that are most dangerous for spacecraft and satellites are often the smallest because they are too small to be detected and operators are unable to maneuver to avoid them.
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