Britain is building a spacecraft with giant robotic claws to grab dead satellites out of orbit, under a new mission from the UK Space Agency. The agency has selected aerospace company ClearSpace UK to develop the cleanup craft, in a contract valued at about $81 million, according to Fox News.
The spacecraft is set to launch in 2029 from SaxaVord Spaceport in Scotland’s Shetland Islands. Its first job will be to remove two defunct UK-registered satellites from low Earth orbit by 2032. If it succeeds, it will be the first time one spacecraft has disposed of more than one satellite in this way.
Catching a dead satellite is harder than it sounds. Objects in low Earth orbit typically travel at roughly 17,000 miles per hour, and some dead satellites tumble, which makes them difficult to approach safely. ClearSpace’s robotic capture system will carefully match the target’s movements, then take hold of it.
Once secured, the spacecraft will move the debris into a lower orbit and release it. Atmospheric drag will then pull it down until it burns up on re-entry. The cleanup craft itself is designed to be refuelled and reused, so it can stay in orbit for future work instead of ending its mission after a single catch.
Dead orbiters pose a growing risk to the active satellites that provide GPS, communications and weather forecasting. Engineers still have to prove the technology can handle these demanding operations safely, but the mission marks a practical step toward cleaning up Earth’s crowded orbits.
Source: Fox News
