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SpaceX launches NASA’s Sentinel-6 satellite to monitor sea level rise
SpaceX launched NASA’s Sentinel 6-Michael Freilich oceanographic satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Saturday.
BERLIN – The European Space Agency announces that it is signing an 86 million euros ($ 102 million) contract with a Swiss start-up to bring back to Earth a large chunk of orbital waste.
The agency said Thursday that the deal with ClearSpace SA would lead to the “first active debris removal mission” in 2025, in which a bespoke spacecraft will capture and shoot down part of a rocket formerly used to deploy a satellite in orbit.
Experts have long warned that the hundreds of thousands of space debris circling the planet – including an astronaut’s lost mirror – pose a threat to operating satellites and even the International Space Station. Several teams are working on ways to tackle the problem.
The object removed from orbit is a so-called Vespa payload adapter which was used to contain and then release a satellite in 2013. It weighs approximately 247 pounds.
Opinion: 50 years after Apollo 11, don’t let space become a dumping ground for equipment and satellites
Opinion: Space debris threatens our economic and national security. We need rules to avoid chaos.
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