Claw-Like Spacecraft Set to Grab 250-Pound Piece of Space Junk
Cleaning up trash is always an arduous task, but a Swiss startup is set to take on a major job: Clearing a 250-pound piece of space junk from Earth's orbit.
In partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), ClearSpace is on track to launch its speciality spacecraft aboard an Arianespace Vega C launcher sometime in 2026. ESA inked a $103 million deal with ClearSpace in 2020 to take on the cleanup, and ClearSpace has now signed a contract with launch service Arianespace to take off from a spaceport in French Guiana.
The mission: Recover a portion of a rocket that's been whizzing around Earth since it was discarded following a 2013 mission. This Vega Secondary Payload Adapter (Vespa) is about the size of a satellite, making it relatively easy to recover. ClearSpace needs to test out the unique, claw-like robotic arm that will grab the space junk, and if the Vespa mission is a success, it clears the way "for more challenging missions with multiple captures per flight," Arianespace says.
"ClearSpace-1 will remove this Vespa upper stage from orbit as the first-ever mission to remove an existing derelict object from orbit through highly precise, complex, close proximity operations, all in the name of cleaning up space," the ESA says(Opens in a new window).
As of April 2022, ESA counted(Opens in a new window) more than 30,000 pieces of space debris in Earth orbit, any of which can cause harm to an operational spacecraft. "As our technology improves, we are spotting an increasing number of unidentified objects," the agency said last year, adding that the true number of UIs larger than 1 centimeter probably exceeds 1 million.
"These figures demonstrate the need to find innovative solutions for preserving the benefits of space
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