Astroscale: Solution for worn-out satellites

 Astroscale recently launched its first commercial mission aimed at removing cosmic waste. It's designed to locate and remove faulty satellites and other pieces of debris orbiting the Earth.

IC: ASTROSCALE

About 170 million pieces of different waste orbit planet Earth, most of which are fragments that at some point separated from the greater pieces. Still, about 670,000 measure more than one centimetre in diameter, which could pose a potential danger to equipment in space. Technology that is supposed to help remove part of the cosmic has finally arrived at the planned location.

Traveling at speeds of up to 28,000 kilometers per hour, large parts of the waste are dangerous enough that even the work of the International Space Station could be compromised when it collides. Because the pieces have long exceeded the number of satellites orbiting the earth, although their numbers are also rising, the likelihood of collisions is certain to increase.

Various cosmic technology companies plan to launch even more objects into the cosmos in the coming years, including systems comprised of thousands of satellites, so it is very important that the waste that orbits the Earth is removed first. Until recently, it was only monitoring the movement of major pieces of waste, and some companies, such as startup Astroscale, had long and carefully planned the launch of satellites tasked with removing waste. Thus came the End-of-Life Services mission by Astroscale-demonstration (ELSA-d), which finally arrived in space with the help of a Russian Soyuz rocket.

ELSA consists of two aircraft that were launched at the same time – the main weighing 175 kg, and the accompanying only 17 – the system is based on magnets that are expected to attract detected pieces of waste. The mission's main goal is to demonstrate technology that will serve to control no longer functioning satellites, and whose numbers will grow as new mega-constellations develop.

Via Space.com