

First space junk recovery mission plans to remove debris that puts satellites at risk

A huge piece of space junk threatening satellites will be recovered from Earth's orbit in a landmark $140 million project.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has signed a deal with Swiss technology firm ClearSpace SA under which the pair will become the first to remove space junk from orbit.
The joint mission, known as ClearSpace-1, involves the launch a small rocket that will grab the 112-kg Vespa payload adaptor.
An artist impression of the ClearSpace-1 space junk clearing craft. (European Space Agency/ClearSpace SA) (Supplied)
Vespa was left 800km above Earth - a region densely populated with space craft - after it launched a satellite in 2013.
After securing Vespa, the ClearSpace-1 spacecraft will drag it out of orbit so it would burn up in the atmosphere.
The ESA has warned that there are now thousands of pieces of space junk in Earth's orbit after six decades of missions to the stars.
Space junk can travel at average speeds of 27,000km/h, meaning even tiny pieces of debris, such as paint, can damage satellites.
The discarded objects include spent rocket boosters, dead satellites and detritus from military anti-satellite missile demonstrations. The junk is heavily concentrated in areas of orbit closest to the Earth's surface. And, though it doesn't pose much of a risk to humans on the ground, it does threaten hoards of active satellites that provide all sorts of services, including tracking the weather, studying the Earth's climate, and providing telecom services.
NASA estimates there are 500,000 pieces of space junk around Earth. The debris is heavily concentrated in areas of orbit closest to the Earth's surface. (NASA)
"In almost 60 years of space activities, more than 5550 launches have resulted in some 42,000 tracked objects in orbit, of which about 23,000 remain in space and are regularly tracked," an ESA spokesman said.
The debris also threatens the International Space Station, where crews of astronauts have lived since 2000, and which has had to adjust its own orbit three times this year already due to space debris.
The ClearSpace-1 mission is scheduled to launch in 2025.
Twenty years of the International Space Station
- With CNN

Send your photos, videos and stories to 9News
