Space debris removal mission – Space Agency

Deorbit: Esa

BBC: The European Space Agency (Esa) is working on a mission it calls “e.Deorbit” that has the objective of removing a large European satellite from space.

RemoveDebris : UK

BBC: A UK-led RemoveDebris mission recently left the International Space Station (ISS).

The small satellite has a big job ahead – to trial the technologies that could one day be used to clean up orbiting junk. It carries a net to trap an object, and a harpoon that it will fire at a target to prove such projectiles can be used effectively in weightless conditions.

Stork : Japan

BBC: In 2016, Japan launched a cargo ship which was to use a half mile- (700m)-long tether to remove some of the vast amount of debris from Earth’s orbit. The automated cargo ship – called Stork or Kounotori in Japanese – carried the junk collector. Researchers say the lubricated, electro-dynamic tether will generate enough energy to change an object’s orbit, pushing it towards the atmosphere where it will burn up. A 106-year-old Japanese fishing net maker, Nitto Seimo Co, collaborated with Japan’s space agency to develop the mesh material.