Robotic Arm Mission to Capture Space Debris: A Step Towards Orbital Decluttering Initiatives

The European Space Agency and a private company, Clearspace, are set to launch a spacecraft in 2026 that will use robotic arms to capture a 250-pound rocket part and safely bring it down into the atmosphere for burning. This mission is in response to the growing problem of space debris, with the U.S. Space Force noting that the rocket part they are targeting was possibly hit by smaller debris last summer.

NASA’s Associate Administrator, Melroy, has experience with various concepts for decluttering orbit from her time at DARPA, including harpoons, nets or an orbital catcher’s mitt to grab litter in space. NASA is currently finalizing its space sustainability plan before making any significant decisions on debris disposal missions. However, NASA’s annual budgets are determined by Congress which recently cut the agency’s fiscal year 2024 budget by 2 percent, impacting programs like the Mars sample return mission.

Developing technologies such as lasers to move debris away from critical satellites is also considered financially viable and a necessary step in preventing collisions. However, designing and deploying such garbage-hauling tech will take time and scaling up operations will require even longer. According to planetary scientist Aaron Boley, changing behavior is essential since cleaning up space trash is ineffective if the problem continues to worsen due to continued pollution and the addition of more junk into orbit.