CLEANING UP SPACE JUNK
The proposals that could avert future disasters in orbit
e.Deorbit
This mission was a proposal from the European Space Agency (ESA). It would have involved sending a satellite with a capture device, such as robotic arms or a net, to snag a heavy, defunct satellite in nearpolar orbit. The e.Deorbit spacecraft would then perform a controlled atmospheric re-entry to pull the dead satellite into the atmosphere to burn up. Funding was transferred to CleanSpace-1 in 2018.
CleanSpace-1
CleanSpace-1 is an ESA Space Debris Removal proposal to launch a 30-kilogram satellite into low-Earth orbit in 2025. It is planned to grab a defunct Vega payload adapter with a net, demonstrating technologies for rendezvous, capture and deorbit for end-of-life satellites.
KITE
A mission from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), KITE launched from the
ISS in 2017. The idea was to use an electromagnetic tether to produce a noticeable tug on a Japanese cargo spacecraft, pulling it into the atmosphere. It was suggested this could be used to de-orbit other satellites. The demonstration mission ended in failure when the tether failed to deploy.
Space laser
A paper published by researchers at the Air Force Engineering University in China explores the impact of using a space-based laser to destroy space debris. The team used numerical calculations to target space debris under ten centimetres (3.9 inches) long with 20 bursts of light per second.