Surrey Space Centre to Lead Space Clean-up Test Mission

Published on: 13 Aug, 2016
Updated on: 17 Aug, 2016

By Will Parsons

Surrey Space Centre, based on the University of Surrey campus, will lead a “RemoveDEBRIS” test mission in 2017. The mission will test the world’s first low-cost space litter-picking technology, aimed at removing the 7,000 tonnes of space junk orbiting the Earth.

A computer-generated image of objects in Earth orbit that are currently being tracked. Approximately 95% of the objects in this illustration are orbital debris, i.e., not functional satellites. Each dot represents an item of debris. The orbital debris dots are scaled according to the image size of the graphic to optimize their visibility and are not scaled to Earth.

Space junk is the accumulated debris orbiting Earth and created by space missions. The debris includes old satellites, ejected rocket stages, and even flecks of paint.

The RemoveDEBRIS project will test technology that has been designed to remove the 7,000 tonnes of space junk. With debris orbiting the Earth at thousands of miles per hour, even small fragments of rubbish can damage communication satellites which are vital for the internet, mobile phones and satellite navigation, while debris just 10cm across could potentially destroy a space station.

The project, which is funded by the European Commission and led by Surrey Space Centre, has a range of European partners including: Airbus DS France; Airbus DS Germany; Airbus DS UK and Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL).

The RemoveDEBRIS team warned that if work to remove the space junk were not begun soon, within a decade it could be too dangerous to leave the Earth’s atmosphere, putting space exploration on hold for a generation.

Dr Jason Forshaw, Surrey Space Centre project manager on the RemoveDebris team, said: “Various orbits around the Earth that are commonly used for satellites and space missions are full of junk, which is a significant danger to our current and future spacecraft.

“Certain orbits – which are commonly used for imaging the earth, disaster monitoring and weather observation – are quickly filling up with junk, which could jeopardise the important satellites orbiting there. A future big impact between junk in that orbit could result in a real life ‘Gravity-like’ chain reaction of collisions.

“The international community needs to start working together now to remove space junk. The space around Earth is part of Earth’s environment and keeping it clean is a common responsibility.

“Our mission, RemoveDebris, is one of the first concerted efforts to pioneer future technologies to remove space junk.”

The RemoveDebris team has designed a set of engineering systems to help clean up space, including one system which uses a net to grab junk, much like a fishing net. The system will be tested in a 2017 mission, with the hope that captured rubbish could be dragged behind a space craft as it returns to Earth, with much of the rubbish disintegrating in the intense heat caused by re-entry.

Another system to be tested is a “dragsail” concept, which would be attached to larger pieces of rubbish. The sail would work much like those on boats, but would be propelled by photons of light from the sun and would drive the junk out of Earth’s orbit, causing it to start spiralling back into the Earth’s atmosphere.

Space junk varies greatly in size, from the largest piece, a ten metre long retired satellite called “Envisat”, to fragments smaller than one centimetre. It is estimated that over 170 million pieces of debris smaller than one centimetre orbit earth, and even these small fragments have damaged the International Space Station in the past.