CleanSpace One is a Swiss-made satellite that will be deployed in 2018 to clean up debri floating in earth’s orbit.
Space missions tend to leave behind debri in earth’s orbit, making "space junk" a growing problem. This interstellar garbage poses a danger for satellites and spaceships, which could be destroyed upon impact.
CleanSpace One will work by matching its orbit to that of a piece of space debri that it identifies. It will then grab the junk and drag it towards earth, where both satellite and junk will be incinerated upon re-entry in a heroic suicide mission.
Implications - Despite the cost of developing CleanSpace One and further janitor satellites, the Swiss Space Center believes that this venture will actually save millions of dollars by keeping hazardous space junk out of the way of future space missions. This venture should be applauded. Space exploration is just over a half a century old, and it’s still not too late to begin addressing the problem of space junk before it gets out of control.
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