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Artist’s impression of Clearspace’s debris-grabbing spacecraft. (Image: Clearspace) Just like on earth, litter is becoming a major problem in space. Satellites past their retirement age remain in useless, indefinite orbit, while debris from space operations and collisions float aimlessly among the stars. This junk “congests” space, making future operations more difficult and collisions more likely. Thankfully, the waste management techniques we use down on Earth might also be useful in space.

Two companies in the United Kingdom are competing for a contract that will allow the winner to conduct active space junk cleanup on behalf of the UK Space Agency (UKSA). The firms were given a total of £4 million ($4.7 million) earlier this year to design missions in which at least two pieces of space debris are removed from low earth orbit (LEO), demonstrating the companies’ abilities to conduct continuous cleanup long-term.

One of the firms, Astroscale, is taking a page from Earth’s custodial book. The company’s current prototype is a satellite called Astroscale-Japan (ADRAS-J), which identifies space junk in LEO via LIDAR. The observational data ADRAS-J obtains during a first-phase investigatory mission will help Astroscale determine which debris require retrieval and which are candidates for the firm’s life extension services. Should Astroscale win the contract, its spacecraft will use a massive robotic arm to grab incorrigible waste out of orbit.

Artist’s impression of Astroscale’s satellite approaching a piece of space debris for inspection. (Image: Astroscale)

ClearSpace is taking a bit of a different approach. Rather than using a single arm to snatch debris from a distance, ClearSpace’s galactic garbage truck will use multiple arms to “hug” retired satellites and pull them inward, which the company says reduces the odds of debris spinning away. Like Astroscale, ClearSpace also plans on launching a service that will capture and repair broken satellites without ever leaving orbit. Traditionally these operations are performed by astronauts, but these missions are resource-intensive. Spacecraft-led missions will ideally perform the same work without sacrificing efficiency.

Astroscale and ClearSpace plan to demonstrate their technology through October 2023. Both firms’ solutions will need to be optionally autonomous at a minimum if they’re to solve the ever-growing space junk crisis, which the UKSA says currently consists of more than 130 million pieces of debris. Once the demonstration phase has ended, the UKSA will award one firm a contract to perform the agency’s first national space debris removal mission in 2026.

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