Space Junk: New technology could use a giant litter picker in space
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Millions of tiny pieces of rubbish are flying around space - what can we do about it?
Did you know that all the rockets, satellites and missions to the stars means that there is a lot space junk.
Experts think there are millions of pieces up in the sky and scientists around the world are currently competing to create the best bin to clear it up.
Two current plans to help clean up space have been announced and they include what's being called a giant 'litter picker', and a space 'garbage truck'.
Debris orbits the earth at an extremely fast pace - so scientists have to be extra careful when creating their clear-up machines.
What is space junk?
Large unused rocket bodies have the potential to break into thousands of pieces.
Pieces of rockets, satellites that aren't being used anymore and broken parts of space tools all make up the junk left up in space. Some people also call it space debris.
As we send more things up into space, we end up leaving a lot of rubbish up there.
Space junk orbits around the Earth due because of our planet's gravity - the thing that keeps us on the planet - and keeps the Moon circling around us.
Space junk orbits around the earth extremely fast - at up to 18,000 mph.
Even tiny pieces of debris can cause a huge risk to functioning satellites that manage our GPS and communications technology.
Rory Holmes is one of the scientists from ClearSpace - a company planning a tool to help clear up space junk.
He said we had been "launching satellites into space without really thinking about what happens".
How can we clean up space?
Space debris includes pieces of abandoned satellites
This is where the new technology comes in - scientists around the world are currently competing to create the best space-cleaning machine!
It's going to need to be some extremely complicated technology, as if anything goes wrong, they risk making more junk in space, or damaging satellites.
ClearSpace's plan - the 'bear hug'
ClearSpace's claw arms will grab debris and stop it from flying away
One of the two pieces of technology is ClearSpace's large bin-style spacecraft.
It will have several arms that can spread out and take in a load of space junk in one go.
Scientist Rory Holmes described is as like a "bear hug" because it can take in a lot with a huge wide grab. The wide 'grabbing' motion aims to make sure junk does not spin away and bash into other pieces of debris.
Astroscale's plan
Scientists are beginning to create and model the potential space-cleaner
Astroscale are focussing their plan on satellites.
There are thousands of abandoned satellites up in space - and lots that could be repaired or reused. Astroscale's machine will have a giant grabbing arm that can pick up a satellite and see if it needs fixing or repair work.
Once either of the machines are up in space, they will face some difficult challenges.
The robots would have to work completely alone, as it would be too difficult to get radio signals up to where they are cleaning up the space junk and they also risk being hit by other pieces of space junk.
The robots have to function completely by themselves - and face a tough mission up there in space.
- Published9 March 2021
- Published15 September 2022
