There are currently about 2,800 satellites orbiting the globe, and space chaos is considered an effective space exploration obstacle. Scientists estimate that nearly 3,000 dead satellites are currently orbiting the Earth, with the exception of 900,000 pieces of debris, which could be catastrophic if they hit the wrong satellite at the wrong time. Now, to clear up the space mess, the European Space Agency (ESA) has come up with a bizarre plan: the space nail.
According to the Associated Press, ESA will sign a $ 102 million contract with a new Swiss company to bring large quantities of orbital debris back to Earth. The agreement with ClearSpace SA will lead to the “first active waste disposal mission” in 2025, the agency said. In addition, the agency revealed that another space nail would capture larger faulty satellites and help them return to space. The Earth’s atmosphere is satellite and the nail itself burns in peace.
#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
According to CNET, the plan was originally proposed in 2019, but now ESA has signed a contract with Switzerland to take on the task of disposing of garbage. Claw’s first target was the VESPA (Vega Secondary Payload Adapter), which has been around the globe since it helped launch the ESA Vega rocket in 2013.
In a press release, ESA said, “ClearSpace-1 will demonstrate the technical ability and commercial capacity to significantly enhance the long-term sustainability of spaceflight. The mission is supported within ESA’s Space Safety Programme based at the agency’s ESOC operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany”.
UK invests £1M to tackle space debris
At the same time, scientists have long warned that hundreds of thousands of pieces of space debris pose a threat to the satellite, and the UK has also announced that it will invest $ 1 million in GBP in September to eliminate the risk of chaos. The British government has signed a formal agreement with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which will contribute to the UK’s opportunity to benefit from a large constellation of satellites. In addition, the Space Agency and the MoD have also signed an agreement on joint efforts to monitor risk in orbit.
These officials will also track the so-called “space debris” that poses a threat to the International Space Station (ISS) and its staff. They estimate that there are about 160 million objects in orbit, which are made up of daily debris and could collide with satellites. The British government says only a small portion of the rubbish can be tracked and stored by a working satellite. They added that it has an important opportunity to benefit from the new-age satellite constellation, which is a vast network of hundreds, even thousands, of spacecraft.