Space debris is always a problem in the earth’s orbit. Every year the space is seeing an increase of the debris. And now the European Space Agency has come up with a mission to clean up the debris in the orbit.
The European Space Agency announced that it will launch the space debris cleaning mission by 2025. The mission named Clear Space 1 will collect one single piece of space rubbish — Vespa, which is now stationed approximately 800 km by 600 km altitude. Vespa is selected as it has a simple and sturdy shape than other satellites in space,
ESA’s Clean Space Mission head Luisa Innocenti noted that this first step would pave the way for clearing te space in a larger scale. He said that the orbital debris is only to grow even if all space launches are halted. The debris is likely to grow because of the collision between the debris at present in space.
Meanwhile, ESA Director General Jan Wörner said that present situation of debris in outer space was a matter of concern. He said that the European Union members fully supported the mission.
A consortium led by Swiss startup ClearSpace, a company formed by a team of space debris researchers based at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) research institute is behind the mission.
