Researchers use giant net to capture space junk

Our space is full of junk and in order to clean up that debris, researchers have developed a giant net to capture all that trash.

There is an estimated 7,500 tons of discarded satellites, rocket parts and other debris floating around in space in Earth’s orbit. In an effort to clean all that mess up, researchers have created a massive net to capture it.

Back in April, Surrey Space Centre (SSC) sent its ‘RemoveDEBRIS’ satellite to the International Space Station (ISS). Just recently, the satellite was launched from the ISS to demonstrate one of the numerous debris-wrangling technologies, reported Futurism.

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For the demo, the satellite released a shoe-box sized object that simulated as its target. It then threw a spider-like web that wrapped around the box. SSC Director Guglielmo Aglietti told BBC News, “It worked just as we hoped it would. The target was spinning like you would expect an uncooperative piece of junk to behave, but you can see clearly that the net captures it, and we’re very happy with the way the experiment went.”

Courtesy: University of Surrey

Since it was a demo only, the net and box will burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere within few months. In the full-scale version, the net will remain attached to the satellite so it could the captured junk out of the sky when it rushes towards Earth at the end of its mission.

In upcoming months, the satellite will test more technologies, including a vision-based navigation system using cameras and LIDAR technology to observe potential debris pieces. Further in 2019, the RemoveDEBRIS satellite will use the first harpoon technology to capture space junk, reported Daily Mail.

If the experiment is entirely successful, researchers hope that it can portray as a model for low-cost methods of retrieving space junk. “It is now time for the international space community to begin to mitigate, limit and control space junk,” expressed Martin Sweeting, executive chairman of Surrey Satellite Technology.