UK wants to send a spacecraft to grab two dead satellites from space

The author is Jonathan O'Callaghan.

A mission to remove space junk is being funded by the United Kingdom. This will be the first time in history that two satellites will be brought back through the atmosphere.

The UK's science minister spoke at the summit about the country's commitment to keeping Earth's space environment clean and tidy. Lowering insurance costs for sustainable missions is one of the things this includes.

There is a huge explosion of satellites at the moment. We want to be the leader in the science of sustainable living.

The UK's Active Debris removal mission will take place in the year 2026. Once there, it will journey to two dead UK satellites and pull them back into the atmosphere so they burn up.

Hugh Lewis says that removing multiple pieces of debris with a single vehicle is the right thing to do. There are thousands of pieces of debris in Earth's space.

The upcoming mission by ClearSpace, funded by the European Space Agency, is intended to remove just one piece of debris. The UK will be the first to target multiple pieces, with the removal spaceship designed to be left on Earth to tackle more junk.

Japanese-UK company Astroscale is one of three companies vying for a satellite contract. A single firm will be chosen for the mission by the end of the year with a contract worth up to £60 million.

The problem of space debris is large. The aim is to make the UK a leader in the field.

Different companies have different methods to carry out the mission. Astroscale would use a robotic arm to grab each dead satellite, Clearspace would use four arms to "hug" the objects and pull them down, and a giant net could be used to grab one and pull the other down.

There are more than a dozen targets that the two UK satellites will be chosen from. There are some mission issues that need to be cleared by the Civil Aviation Authority in the UK in order for a country to target its own satellites. If you attach to the wrong object, what would happen? It could be a national security issue.

The hope is that the scheme will lead to more commercial debris-removal missions. The UK Space Agency is trying to speed up the development of technologies. Two objects will be removed by one satellite. There is a loss in the amount of objects. It is an important step for all of us.

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