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ClearSpace-1 looks like a giant hand, with four metal fingers to capture space debris. THIS
This is the first time that the European Space Agency (ESA) has allocated such a large sum (86 million euros) to a start-up. It’s Swiss and its mission is to clean up space debris.
This content was published on December 5, 2020 – 11:00 AM
February 10, 2009, 16:56 GMT: The American commercial satellite Iridium 33 collides with the Russian military satellite Kosmos 2251 at a speed of nearly 42,000 km / h. The two spacecraft disintegrate into more than 600 pieces of junk, which disperse at 20 times the speed of a rifle bullet.
This is the first accident of this kind recorded, but by no means the only one. Some of them are even intentional: the Russians, Americans, Chinese and Indians have all destroyed one or more of their own satellites to test space missiles. And those explosions created thousands of additional debris that could damage any spacecraft in orbit – including the International Space Station. It is the screenwriter and director Alfonso Cuarón described at the beginning of his film Gravity.
An idea was born
In 2009, Muriel Richard-Noca and his students from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) celebrated the launch of the SwissCube mini-satellite, which they built together. And while the first 100% Swiss space orbiter is no bigger than a carton of milk, the space engineer was already thinking when it would become a space junk. After all, SwissCube was programmed to pass close to the area where the Iridium and Kosmos satellites collided a few months earlier. Debris from this collision was still moving through space.
In 2012, in response to the dangers posed by space debris to SwissCube, Richard-Noca and the EPFL Space Center launched a space cleaning project, called CleanSpace. At the same time but independently, Luisa Innocenti, a physicist at ESA, convinced the agency to launch a program which she also named CleanSpace.
Special project
Eight years later, the EPFL initiative has become a start-up, renamed ClearSpace. And as already announced in fall 2019, it was chosen by ESA from among 13 candidates – including several European industrial giants – to do the job. The start-up has just increased its workforce from 5 to 20 people.
This is the first time that ESA has purchased an end-to-end service contract rather than operating the mission itself. More importantly, this is the first time that a space agency has committed such a large sum to a start-up. ESA will provide 86 million euros (93 million francs), with ClearSpace being responsible for finding the 24 million euros (26 million francs) needed to complete the budget.
But as highlighted at this week’s online press conference, ClearSpace is more than a startup. The company has spent the past year bringing together a consortium of institutes and industries from eight European countries, including giants such as Airbus and Swiss arms maker RUAG – which, among others, build the cargo fairings. useful Ariane rockets. So, while the ClearSpace-1 satellite still only exists on paper, its construction will be carried out by experienced companies. ESA will also carry out the necessary checks before the disbursement of each tranche of funding.
Many unknowns
ClearSpace-1 is expected to take off in 2025 aboard the European Vega rocket. Its mission is to capture space debris and then place itself in a reentry orbit with the space debris. The friction will cause the captured debris and ClearSpace-1 to burn, leaving the space a bit cleaner and safer.
The chosen target is a VESPA. It has nothing to do with the famous Italian scooter, although it isn’t much bigger or heavier – 112 kilograms (246 pounds). The VEga Secondary Payload Adapter (VESPA) is a small metal cone used to separate satellites from each other when carried by the same rocket. It was launched in 2013 by a Vega rocket into a low orbit 800 km from Earth.
However, no one has ever captured an “uncooperative” object in space. The VESPA, which moves freely by turning on itself, has no operator or motor.
“We have all seen in the movies an astronaut who, while trying to grab a tool, makes a wrong move and the tool disappears into space like a flying golf ball. It’s exactly the same with VESPA, ”explains Innocenti. ClearSpace-1 will need to open its four arms wide to capture the object smoothly.
Another difficulty is the Sun, which blinds the cameras and could make the target invisible at the crucial moment. The “debris hunter” will therefore have to move forward step by step and constantly recalibrate each movement using artificial intelligence. And if the capture is successful, ClearSpace-1 will have to deal with a completely new object, the dynamics of which will need to be understood before deciding where and how to drop it.
An animation depicting the crowded surroundings around Earth’s orbit. THIS
More than a cleaner
In the end, ClearSpace-1 will burn with its debris captured in the upper atmosphere. It seems like a huge sum to pay to get rid of just one piece of space junk. Not according to ESA and ClearSpace.
Mission 2025 is set to be the first in a long series, with the prospect of developing a spacecraft capable of having multiple objects in orbit at once. We are already talking about the destruction of five or even ten pieces of debris in a single mission.
And there’s more: ClearSpace’s technologies could also be used to refuel or perform repairs to extend the life of some satellites. In the longer term, there are also plans to assemble orbiting spacecraft for long-distance travel that would be far too heavy to escape Earth’s gravitational pull in one piece.
“Our goal is to provide low-cost and sustainable in-orbit services,” says Luc Piguet, director of ClearSpace. He estimates a potential market that could one day be worth “between a few hundred million and several billion dollars a year”.
Unclear responsibilities
Who is responsible for space debris and who pays for their disposal? The space treaties adopted by the United Nations in 2002 only speak of the responsibility of States in the event of an accident and say nothing of the role of private actors. Does this mean that the debris is nobody’s business?
Not enough. There is a difference between old and new (or future) debris. There are now very specific rules that space agencies and private entities must follow, even though they are not legally binding. A satellite launcher, for example, must plan to re-enter the atmosphere after 25 years and carry enough fuel to handle the maneuver itself.
As Piguet points out, “we are launching more and more satellites. Since 2010, the number of objects in orbit has multiplied by 16”. This phenomenon is mainly due to satellite Internet constellations, like SpaceX’s Starlink or OneWeb. But these players are “very aware of the problem and very proactive,” said the boss of ClearSpace.
The big problem, then, is the old debris. And Piguet is categorical: “it’s now or never!”
“There are discussions at the United Nations to introduce a tax on launches, which would be used to finance a space cleaning fund managed by the UN,” Innocenti said. “But these are discussions between diplomats. It’s a bit like global warming, we feel like we have all the time in the world, so we move very slowly.”
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