ESA To Send Huge Claw Into Space To Remove Space Junk

The European Space Agency (ESA) is signing an agreement to launch a giant claw into space which will begin clearing up some of the space junk that has been gathered in the planet's orbit.

Today, there are more than 2,600 active satellites in the Earth's orbit, it is estimated that there are over 23,000 tracked objects.

Scientists have estimated that almost 3,000 dead satellites are currently orbiting the earth. As the number of launches and space missions increases, the amount of debris is raised to 900,000 pieces, which could potentially cause severe damage if it collides with the wrong satellite at the wrong time.

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According to the Associated Press, the ESA is signing a $102 million contract with a Swiss space startup Clearspace SA to design and develop the first-ever space debris removal operation. Further, the agency revealed that a space claw will help them clean the space junk by capturing large dead satellites and draw them back into the earth’s atmosphere where both the satellite and the claw itself can burn peacefully. 

ClearSpace-1mission aims at a Vega Secondary Payload Adaptor, or Vespa, which has been orbiting 650 km (400 miles) above the Earth since 2013 when it helped launch a Vega rocket. This specific object was chosen because of its size - just like a small satellite - and because it has an orbit that is well understood.

#CallForMedia: In 2025, ClearSpace SA will launch #ClearSpace1, the first mission to perform removal of an item of space debris from orbit. Journalists are invited to follow an online briefing, Tuesday, 1 December, 13:30 CET 👉https://t.co/dDLZBKbLme pic.twitter.com/HL4l6bhtLn

— ESA (@esa) November 26, 2020

ClearSpace-1 is likely to launch in 2025. Once in orbit, it will contact the Vespa debris and stick onto it using its grapplers. Once secure, it will simply pull the object down into the atmosphere where both will burn up.

While this will be a costly and labor-intensive way to clean up space debris, it is hoped that a successful mission with ClearSpace-1 will allow for more effective designs in upcoming missions.