EU Space Agency and Private Company Join Forces to Target Space Debris in Historic Mission

The European Space Agency and a private company called Clearspace are planning to launch a spacecraft in 2026 to capture a 250-pound rocket part and safely bring it down into the atmosphere to burn up. This action is in response to the growing problem of space debris, with the U.S. Space Force noting that the rocket part they are targeting was possibly hit by smaller debris last summer.

NASA is also in the process of finalizing its space sustainability plan before making any significant decisions. NASA’s Associate Administrator, Melroy, has experience with various concepts for decluttering orbit from her time at DARPA, including harpoons, nets, or an orbital catcher’s mitt to grab litter in space. However, NASA’s annual budgets are determined by Congress, which recently cut the agency’s fiscal year 2024 budget by 2 percent, impacting programs like the Mars sample return mission.

Developing technologies such as lasers to move debris away from critical satellites is also considered financially viable and a necessary step in preventing collisions. However, the design and deployment of such garbage-hauling tech will take time, with scaling up operations requiring even longer. Planetary scientist Aaron Boley believes that changing behavior is essential since cleaning up space trash is ineffective if the problem continues to worsen due to continued pollution and the addition of more junk into orbit.