Stories about the problems posed by trash in orbit, and initiatives from both governments and industry to clean it up.
The UK government released a plan for space sustainability at the 4th Summit for Space Sustainability in London today. UK Science Minister George Freeman said that the country is angling to make the UK a hub for space investment and drive commercial space sector growth. “A ‘Wild West’ space race without effective regulation risks a […]
Yesterday, the Toronto-based Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) announced that it has achieved a major milestone in debris removal: successfully deorbiting a spacecraft without the use of propulsion. The 24-year-old laboratory used a drag sail to deorbit a nanosatellite within five years from a ~688km altitude, ~178 years more quickly than it would have without the […]
This is the second installment of our deep dive on orbital debris. Read Part One here. – Plenty of ink is spilled on the notion that the space industry is at an inflection point, driven by lowering launch costs and barriers to entry. In the coming decade, tens of thousands of satellites are poised to […]
We haven’t seen the last of the debris cloud created by a Russian ASAT test last November. At the time, the debris field forced astronauts aboard the ISS to shelter in place while the station navigated around. Now, ESA says that its Sentinel 1A spacecraft had to make a last-minute maneuver to avoid a head-on […]
When humanity was just beginning space launches 60 years ago, it seemed as if nothing could stand in the way of our inevitable push into the cosmos. Now, a booming young commercial space industry is brushing up against a consequence of this frontier mindset, and a problem of our own making: debris. Orbiting several hundred […]
The White House is instituting a self-imposed ban on direct-ascent ASAT, or anti-satellite, tests, VP Kamala Harris announced yesterday on a visit to the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The administration is hoping that other nations will agree to adopt the same ban in an effort to reduce orbital debris creation (and protect national […]
Last week, Vyoma won the Startup Space pitch competition at Satellite 2022. Dr. Luisa Buinhas, a cofounder of Vyoma and space systems engineer, delivered the winning pitch. Payload wasn’t able to catch up with her on-site, but we did speak with Dr. Stefan Frey, an astrodynamics specialist and fellow Vyoma cofounder. Incubated within the ESA, the European […]
Astroscale has moved a pair of debris-removal satellites back into position after pausing a demo of the technology last month, the startup posted on social media. The company has not revealed the exact reason that the mission was postponed in the first place, citing only “anomalous spacecraft conditions.” ICYMI: Last month, Astroscale attempted its second debris removal demonstration […]
Ed. note: Read Part One of this story here. Last week, the US Space Force (USSF) detailed how it would tap the private sector with orbital debris removal services. Beyond relatively small funding awards, how might governments more holistically address the problem of space junk? Here’s a few ideas. 1) Accept responsibility. “When it comes to liabilities and […]
The Space Force (USSF) is hoping to gin up demand for debris removal by eventually buying services directly from the private sector. “We need your help,” USSF Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. David Thompson said in a recent video addressed to the private sector (H/T SpaceNews). The vision here = “Aggressively explore [debris removal] […]
The upper stage from a failed Russian space launch is expected to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere at some point today, Ars Technica reports. The stage, Persei, deployed from an Angara A5 rocket and successfully performed an initial burn, but failed to perform a second burn out of four that would have delivered a dummy payload into […]
On Monday, Russia struck a Soviet-era spy satellite with a missile. The antisatellite (ASAT) test destroyed a dead, decades-old spacecraft and generated at least 1,500 trackable orbital debris in LEO, along with hundreds of thousands of smaller shards. Washington confirmed the ASAT test and condemned Moscow for reckless space behavior. The US State Department called Russia’s actions “dangerous, […]
