Surrey Satellites – Tackling the Huge Problem of Space Junk

Published on: 20 Sep, 2018
Updated on: 21 Sep, 2018

A net deployed in space to capture space junk.

By Will Parsons

Guildford based Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), a company based at the University of Surrey, has successfully trialled a new satellite technology to remove ‘space junk’ from Earth’s orbit.

Dubbed “RemoveDEBRIS”, the satellite used a net to capture a target while orbiting in space, in an experiment to test the viability of space junk removal technologies. The trial, which took place on September 16, is the first of its kind.

SSTL released a video of the capture. A net shot from the RemoveDEBRIS satellite can be seen enveloping the target, which was deployed for the experiment.

Space junk is the accumulated debris created by space missions, such as old satellites or ejected rocket stages. Orbiting at thousands of miles per hour, the debris, which is believed to amount to over 7,500 tonnes, can pose a hazard to satellites and other spacecraft. Some pieces are the size of a bus but even flecks of paint can cause significant damage.

SSTL’s satellite is equipped with technologies, including the net and a harpoon, to enable it to remove the junk. The spacecraft is operated in orbit by SSTL engineers in the Spacecraft Operations Centre in Guildford.

In the trial, which is being conducted in low orbit, both the target satellite and the net will fall to Earth on their own, burning up in the atmosphere.

However, when the technology is fully deployed, a tether will be attached to the net, allowing each clean-up satellite to drag its target piece of space junk down out of orbit.

More trials for the satellite are planned for this year, including tests of a camera to track a target and of a harpoon to spear it.