Spacewatch: floating 'space junk' captured

A satellite launched from the International Space Station has caught a piece of simulated space junk by ensnaring it in a net. Co-funded by the European commission, the 100kg RemoveDebris satellite was launched to the station in April as cargo on a supply mission. It was deployed from the station in June, and on 16 September began its experimental phase. It launched a small object to act as a dead satellite and a few seconds later fired a net at it.

The net unfurled as it caught up and then wrapped itself about the object. The extra mass that the net provides will help drag the object down into Earth’s atmosphere, where it will burn up.

This is expected to happen in the next few weeks. Space debris is an urgent problem. Collisions with it can destroy functioning satellites. Space agencies around the world are therefore developing techniques to remove old satellites and other pieces of junk from orbit.

The project was led by the Surrey Space Centre, at the University of Surrey, in the UK, and will now go on to perform a number of space debris removal experiments. These include harpooning a target, deployment of a test object with a large “dragsail”, and a navigation test to practise rendezvousing with pieces of space debris.