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The long arm of the claw is coming for space junk.
The UK is launching a first-of-its-kind mission to rid the atmosphere of space junk, which involves using giant, satellite-propelled claws to snatch it from the sky.
On Wednesday, the UK Space Agency just signed an $81 million (£61.3million) contract with the aerospace manufacturing company ClearSpace to manufacture interstellar reacher sticks capable of disposing of defunct satellites, GeoNews reported.
Currently, these dead orbiters pose a great risk to their active counterparts that provide GPS, communications and other everyday utilities, the UK gov announced in a statement.
Known as the UK’s Active Debris Removal Programme (ADR), the cosmic dump trucks will embark from Scotland in 2029 with the goal of destroying two dead orbiters by 2032.
After hunting them down, the specialist spacecraft will use four specialized grabbing arms to swoop up the dead satellites like something out of a James Bond film.
They’ll then gently escort the debris into our lower atmosphere, where it’ll be incinerated before it can contribute to the galactic garbage patch encircling the Earth.
If successful, this celestial snatch-and-grab will mark the first time “a spacecraft has disposed of more than one satellite in this way,” per the release.
To avoid inadvertently becoming part of the problem, the refuelable satellites will be parked at a safe orbit so they can be used for future cleanups.
“Space junk and debris pose an immense and growing challenge, but with our homegrown expertise, the UK is determined to lead the global effort to clean up space,” declared UK Space Minister Liz Lloyd.
“By backing this world-first mission, we will protect the satellites that underpin modern life, from keeping us connected with loved ones and delivering accurate weather forecasts to keeping our country safe.”
Despite the country’s relatively modest national space budget, which pales in comparison to the financial scale of NASA’s deep space human exploration or commercial launch programs, the UK Space Agency has laid out plans to spearhead the burgeoning space junk problem.
“The technologies being developed through ADR will help establish the UK’s position at the forefront of a new generation of space services while supporting a sustainable future for activities in space,” said Alice Bunn, Co-Director of the UK Space Agency.
And taking out the space trash is a matter of paramount importance, officials say.
A May report found that 15,587 of the 33,269 tracked objects circling the planet constitute debris from space launches.
This space junk can whip through the air at up to 20,000 mph, posing an enormous risk to space missions and infrastructure in low Earth orbit.
According to the European Space Agency, a 1 cm bit of junk is enough to knock a spacecraft out of commission — or even penetrate the shields of the International Space Station.
Ergo, astronauts are at particular risk.
The ISS crew had to seek shelter onboard in 2021 when it passed dangerously close to a cloud of Russian junk.
Such an event could have caused a catastrophic hull rupture, ripping a hole in the station’s living quarters and allowing the pressurized cabin to lose all breathable air in mere seconds. Faster than it would take crew members to reach escape vehicles before losing consciousness.
Unfortunately, we’re not safe here on Earth either.
Due to the soaring number of rocket launches, the chances of someone getting struck by the debris cast off during re-entry could go up exponentially.
Space environmentalist Ewan Wright from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, told Space.com that 124 rocket stages reentered the atmosphere in 2024.
“If that level is sustained for the next decade, the risk of someone somewhere being killed by rocket debris alone is 33%,” he warned.