This giant claw could soon clean up space trash

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Humanity launched the first satellite in 1957, and since then we have put thousands of objects into orbit without worrying about the future. With about 3,000 active satellites, we now have 900,000 space junk larger than 10 centimeters. The results could be catastrophic if even a small piece of debris collided with a crewed spacecraft or simply annoying if it collided with a satellite. Either way, it’s something you want to avoid. Cleaning up space to avoid collisions is a tall order, but ESA has just funded a giant space claw that could lead the way.

Most launch operators generally do not embark on a mission intended to encumber space around Earth. However, satellites, booster engines and smaller machines can stay in orbit long after their useful life. Some objects will naturally fall back to Earth as their orbit disintegrates, but the volume of space debris is still moving in the wrong direction and space is about to get much more crowded with mega-stellations from SpaceX and others.

To combat the increase in space waste, ESA awarded a € 86 million contract to Switzerland-based ClearSpace SA to execute the world’s first active debris disposal operation. ESA will provide the expertise and the money, but ClearSpace SA will do all the engineering and design work. He will also seek additional funding for the mission from commercial investors.

The target of ESA’s mission is a Vespa (Vega Secondary Payload Adapter), which has been left in a 400-mile-high orbit since 2013 when it helped launch a Vega rocket in 2013. The team chose this object because its orbit and composition are well understood, and it is about the size of a small satellite.

The mission, known as ClearSpace-1, could be launched as early as 2025. The claw-shaped spaceship will join the debris of the Vespa and lock into it with the grapplers. After that, it simply drags the object into the atmosphere where it and the claw burn. You would of course need a lot of these devices to clear Earth’s orbital traffic jams, but this is only a first test. If ClearSpace-1 is successful, the company can design more efficient versions of the Hot Shoe for capturing junk files.

Only time will tell if ClearSpace’s approach to removing space junk is viable, but we’ll have to do something about it. The more cluttered the space, the more dangerous it is. Some scientists even fear that a chain reaction of space collisions known as the Kessler Effect could render space around Earth unusable for years or decades.

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