Active Debris Removal

Removing space junk from Earth’s orbit

One of the reasons why I’m excited about LeoLabs is the fact I firmly believe we must protect Earth’s orbit. If we litter it, it might get to a state where it becomes unusable (see Kessler syndrome). That would have a profound negative impact on our infrastructure, society and species.

Monitoring satellites to avoid collisions is one component of the solution. Active Debris Removal (ADR) is the other: in time, we must develop technology, know-how, and incentive structures that enable and promote cleaning up Earth’s orbit of debris and defunct satellites.

Here are some projects and companies in the ADR space.

RemoveDEBRIS was a 2018 research project aiming at testing the efficacy of several ADR technologies on mock targets in LEO. e.Deorbit was a similar project which was discontinued.

ClearSpace-1, led by ClearSpace, is a pioneering mission to remove debris from Earth orbit, mandated and supported by the European Space Agency (ESA).

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is also working on an ADR proof of concept, targeting the removal of a Japanese rocket body. It has partnered with Astroscale on the project.

Altilus Space Machines aims at providing cost-effective and reliable satellite maintenance and end-of-life services. It has partnered with OneWeb on the design of a grappling fixture that would make satellites easier to capture if they need to be removed from orbit.

OneWeb’s Responsible Space initiative is worth checking out (http://www.responsible.space). They are concerned about space junk and satellite-generated light pollution, and leading by example on ways to address these issues (video).