Like missiles, the legacy of old space missions revolve around the earth and are increasingly becoming a threat to space missions. The International Space Station ISS and satellites already bear traces of the collisions. The European Space Agency Esa is now planning the world's first mission to eliminate waste from space. The European Space Ministers had agreed to support the project.
"ClearSpace-1" is scheduled to launch in 2025 and has been commissioned by a commercial merger of several companies, said the Esa. The consortium is managed by the Swiss start-up "Clear Space". Preparations for the mission are expected to begin next March. For Esa, experts at the Darmstadt-based European Space Operations Center (ESOC) will be accompanying the approximately 120 million euro project.
In the video: cleanup in orbit
REUTERS
The idea: First, a spacecraft to capture part of an old Esa rocket with four gripping arms and bring to the glow in the earth's atmosphere. Later orbiter are planned, which can capture several large pieces of debris. "This is new territory in many ways, but urgently necessary," said Esa CEO Jan Wörner.
The reason: space debris will increase sharply in the coming years. Elon Muskwill alone with his company SpaceX shoot 42,000 satellites into space. States are also planning military projects in space. Mega-constellations of hundreds or even thousands of orbiters in orbit are planned, warned Luc Piguet, head of the Swiss start-up "Clear Space".
Collision with up to 40,000 kilometers per hour
The problem: parts of space could fall on the earth or lead to collisions in space, with destructive consequences. According to Esa, the objects collide at speeds of up to 40,000 kilometers per hour. Every collision creates thousands of new parts that whiz around the earth. Evasive maneuvers were already part of the everyday life of space travel today.
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There is still no law that obliges to clean up the space junk caused. "But there is such a thing as morality and ethics," Wörner said. His demand: Who wants to shoot a satellite in space in the future, should either prove that it automatically comes back and burned down, conclude a contract with a company for a retrieval or deposit a kind of pledge, with which the elimination can be paid.
Wörner believes that Esa will open up a future market with the cleaning project. The universe is used daily for a variety of applications - for example, to supply navigation devices with data. Protecting this infrastructure is of great value.
The planned mission has been made possible by the recently adopted record budget for the Esa. The 22 Member States have unexpectedly raised their budget for the next five years at the end of November - to 14.4 billion euros. Germany alone has increased its financial resources from 1.9 billion to 3.3 billion, making it the largest contributor.