Skip to main content

Space junk cleanup mission secures a ride to space

ClearSpace's debris-catching spacecraft.
ClearSpace

A startup geared toward clearing up space junk now has a chance to test its technology after securing a ride aboard to orbit aboard an Arianespace Vega-C rocket.

Switzerland-based ClearSpace hopes to launch its ClearSpace-1 mission in 2026 with the aim of capturing and removing a piece of orbital debris weighing 247 pounds (112 kilograms).

Recommended Videos

Space junk in low-Earth orbit is a pressing issue. Comprising parts of old rockets, decommissioned satellites, and fragments created by collisions between these parts, the debris can go on to cause further damage, potentially taking out functioning satellites or even causing damage to the International Space Station or the new orbital outpost operated by China.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

ClearSpace’s mission will attempt to remove a payload adapter from a 2013 Vega rocket launch. The company’s spacecraft will use a claw with four arms to grab the part and transport it to a lower orbit where both the spacecraft and the debris will enter the atmosphere and burn up.

The aim is to demonstrate the effectiveness of ClearSpace’s technology, with success potentially paving the way for the commercialization of the technology.

Luc Piguet, CEO and co-founder of ClearSpace, described the upcoming mission as “a turning point in the space industry as we urgently need to bring solutions to a fundamental problem: we are putting objects into space quicker than they are being removed.”

Stéphane Israël, CEO of Arianespace, pointed out the extent of the junk problem, saying that there are currently more than 34,000 pieces of space debris larger than 10 centimeters and around 6,500 operational satellites in orbit, a number could increase to more than 27,000 by the end of the decade.”

“These figures demonstrate the need to find innovative solutions for preserving the benefits of space for humanity and life on Earth,” Israël said.

Various solutions for clearing space debris are under development, and in testing some have proved more successful than others. A fully tested, reliable commercial operation has yet to emerge, though ClearSpace clearly has its eye on the prize.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
SpaceX forced to delay Polaris Dawn mission by one day
The Falcon 9 rocket that will power the Polaris Dawn mission to orbit.

SpaceX has delayed the launch of the highly anticipated Polaris Dawn mission by 24 hours while engineers look into a ground-based helium leak.

The Elon Musk-led spaceflight company had been hoping to launch the all-civilian flight at 3:38 a.m. ET today (August 27), but it’s now targeting the same time on Wednesday.

Read more
Here are the experiments that will be conducted on SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission
Spaceflight participant Anna Menon tests a portable ultrasound device as part of the TRISH-sponsored research complement for Polaris Dawn.

SpaceX is all set and ready for the historic Polaris Dawn mission to launch tomorrow, in which four private astronauts will travel into orbit and perform the first commercial spacewalk. Scheduled for launch early on Tuesday morning from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the crew will travel in a Crew Dragon spacecraft on a five-day mission.

Part of the selling point of the mission is that it is not just space tourism but a chance to perform useful scientific research. Several institutions are sending experiments into orbit as part of the mission, including a groups of experiments into human health run by Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) at Baylor College of Medicine.

Read more
SpaceX sets new target date for historic Polaris Dawn mission
An illustration of how the Polaris Dawn spacewalk will look.

SpaceX is delaying the launch of the historic Polaris Dawn mission by a day to give teams more time to complete preflight checkouts.

The Elon Musk-led spaceflight company had been targeting Monday, August 26, for the launch of the all-civilian mission, which involves the first-ever commercial spacewalk. But on Wednesday, it announced that it's now targeting Tuesday, August 27, for liftoff.

Read more