All About Space - UK (2020-02)

Future tech ClearSpace-1

heEuropeanSpaceAgency(ESA)

hasrecentlycommissionedits

firstmissiontobegintheclean

upofspacedebris.Spacedebris

hasbecomeanincreasingproblemwiththe

ever-growing population of satellites in low-

Earth orbit, and there are currently limited

efforts to clean the mechanical mess that is left

behind in space. This new European mission

will launch an experimental, four-armed robot

named ClearSpace-1 in 2025 to see if this could

be the answer for a large-scale cosmic clean-up.

If successful, this robot could soon be hugging

This Europeanmissionwill bepurging low-Earth

orbitwitha space-debris removalplanfor 2025

piecesofspacejunkandperformingakamikaze

diveintoEarth’satmosphere,wheretheywill

bothburnupuponreentry.

Materialdriftsaroundinlow-Earthorbit,left

overfromrockets,spacestationsandsatellites.

In fact, there are nearly 2,000 live satellites

currently parked in low-Earth orbit, and over

3,000 defunct ones. This is the space equivalent

of having 3,000 cars break down and then just

leaving them on the road. It would likely cause

an accident. The International Space Station in

particular is constantly at risk. Its windows could

be pierced with a piece of space junk travelling

THE KAMIKAZE

SPACE CLEANER

T

CLEARSPACE-1

Constantthreatof

spacedebris

Withover3,000obsolete

satellites,therearerisks

ofcollisionsthatwillcause

evenmorespacedebristo

fireoffineverydirection

athighspeeds.

Perishintheatmosphere

Bydraggingthespacedebris

intotheatmosphere,the

temperaturescreatedby

reentrywilldisintegrateit,thus

removingtheproblem.