UK mission set to help clean up space junk

The CLEAR mission will remove two large pieces of space junk from low Earth orbit, the first attempt to ease the dangerously congested space environment.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission says of 10,000 satellites deployed since 1957 more than half are no longer working.

Space debris, or space junk, also consists of discarded launch vehicles or parts of a spacecraft that float around in space hundreds of miles above the Earth, risking collision with a satellite or a space station.

Debris can also be caused by an explosion in space or when countries conduct missile tests to destroy their own satellites by missiles. Russia, China, the United States and India have shot down satellites, creating space debris.

As space debris orbits around the earth at tremendous speeds - about 15,700 miles per hour (25,265 kph) in low Earth orbit - it could cause significant damage to a satellite or a spacecraft in case of a collision.

In 2019, the European Space Agency (ESA) selected ClearSpace to lead the first mission to remove an ESA-owned item from orbit, with a launch planned in 2025-26.

ClearSpace technology involves a steerable satellite with a large claw-grab, capturing targets and releasing them in a lower orbit that will see them burn up.

Cleaning up debris is expected to be a huge growth area for what’s being called in-orbit-services, a brand new sector which it’s estimated will be worth more than $14B by 2030.

ClearSpace believe sustainability in orbit is about keeping satellites operating as much as removing the waste.

ClearSpace are leading a consortium of companies involved in the design of the mission to remove two derelict UK registered objects which have been inactive for more than 10 years.

These objects are predicted stay in orbit for a century before they naturally re-enter the atmosphere and are located in a very congested region of low earth orbit, above 700 km altitude, endangering the space environment and the safety of space operations.