RemoveDEBRIS Satellite Performs World’s First In-Orbit Space Junk Capture

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An experimental satellite developed by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), Airbus and others has successfully captured a target cubesat with a net while orbiting the Earth. The achievement is a world’s first and promises a practical solution to clear decades of spent rocket components and dead satellites.

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There needs to be a lot more thought and funding put into dealing with space debris and I’d bet money this is going to be a priority of the Space Force. Their goal is to protect American interests in space and one of the largest risks to our satellites comes from orbital debris. A fleck of paint can cause damage (F=MA) and there’s a lot of stuff up there from 60+ years of spaceflight.

Once something is impacted it has a cascading effect called the Kessler Effect.

The Kessler syndrome (also called the Kessler effect,[1][2] collisional cascading or ablation cascade), proposed by the NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler in 1978, is a scenario in which the density of objects in low earth orbit (LEO) is high enough that collisions between objects could cause a cascade where each collision generates space debris that increases the likelihood of further collisions.[3] One implication is that the distribution of debris in orbit could render space activities and the use of satellites in specific orbital ranges infeasible for many generations.[3]



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