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| The European Space Agency is using giant tentacles to clean up space debris |
The European Space Agency plans to launch its first active space debris disposal mission, ClearSpace-1, in 2025.
The agency has signed an agreement with Swiss startup ClearSpace SA for this unique service valued at 86 million euros ($ 103 million).
The ClearSpace-1 mission uses giant tentacles to safely ignite and burn by capturing unused satellites and launching them into Earth's atmosphere to cleanse the atmosphere of cosmic debris.
The first target of the clutch is the Vega transformer - commonly referred to as VESPA - since it contributed to the launch of the ESA Vega rocket in 2013, it orbited the Earth for seven years.
The VESPA weighs 112 kg and, according to the European Space Agency (ESA), is almost the size of a miniature satellite.
After 2013 Vega, Vespa was designated LEO by the agency in accordance with space debris reduction regulations.
In October 2019, the US Space Watch Network reported nearly 20,000 man-made objects orbiting the Earth, including more than 2,200 satellites.
This stuff is large enough to be tracked. However, millions of small debris are floating in space for fear of colliding with the spaceship.
Over the past six years, the International Space Station has nearly avoided colliding with the remnants of old Russian satellites.
Last month, part of the Russian satellite Sputnik was nearly out of service and an abandoned Chinese missile collided with another.
According to a press release by the European Space Agency, the ClearSpace-1 mission has demonstrated technical and commercial capabilities that will greatly improve space sustainability in the long term.
The agency added that the signing of the contract represents an important step towards establishing a new commercial field.
"The procurement missions under a full service contract rather than developing a specific ESA spacecraft for internal operations is a new way for the agency to do its work," she explained.
With a little help from the Cabinet, the European Space Agency purchased the first mission and then ClearSpace SA would attempt to raise the remaining funds through commercial investors.