British craft to clean up orbiting space junk
BRITAIN: The world’s most advanced litter picker will be launched into space next week to clean up floating debris that is threatening satellites and the International Space Station (ISS).
Surrey University’s Space Centre has designed a craft that can be deployed from the ISS and use a harpoon and net to grab space junk, then fall into Earth’s atmosphere and burn up.
The little craft, named RemoveDebris, is due to launch from the Kennedy Space Centre on Monday, aboard one of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets.
It is estimated that more than 6900 tonnes of space junk is orbiting Earth, with some objects moving faster than a speeding bullet, approaching speeds of 50,000kmh.
Professor Guglielmo Aglietti, director of the space centre, said: ‘‘A few significant collisions have already happened.
‘‘Therefore, to maintain the safety of current and future space assets, the issue of the control and reduction of the space debris has to be addressed.
‘‘We believe the technologies we will be demonstrating with RemoveDebris could provide feasible answers to the space junk problem."
British Science Minister Sam Gyimah said: ‘‘Space debris is a growing concern, so it’s great to see a British university and our innovative space sector lead the way in searching for solutions.’’
The craft will perform two experiments to deploy and then capture a small ‘‘cubesat’’ satellite, first using a net, and then using a harpoon, both designed by Airbus UK.
It will then deploy a large dragsail to allow it to fall out of orbit and burn up in the atmosphere.
Since 1957, more than 5250 launches have led to tens of thousands of tracked objects in orbit. But only about 1200 are working satellites – the rest is debris.