A British satellite designed to test methods of cleaning up space debris has just succeeded in using a large net to capture a piece of simulated garbage in orbit. On Sunday, September 16, the satellite, dubbed RemoveDEBRIS, deployed its onboard network to capture a nearby target detector that the satellite had released seconds earlier. The demonstration showed that a simple idea like a net could be an effective way to clean up all matter in Earth’s orbit.
The “RemoveDEBRIS” satellite is designed to try a number of different methods to clean up space debris, which has become a growing problem since we started launching rockets into orbit. Thousands of dead, uncontrollable objects linger in orbit, including defunct satellites, spent launch vehicles, and other debris detached from other spacecraft. All this trash is moving at speeds of more than 17,000 miles per hour. The more debris in orbit, the greater the chance that it will collide at extremely high speeds, creating more debris that could pose a threat to other spacecraft.
