Debris

Debris orbiting in high Earth orbit is not being tracked closely enough, according to the results of a new survey, and could pose an unexpected threat to important satellites that provide communication, weather observation and navigation services.

A team of ESA scientists has developed a way to use lasers, special telescopes, detectors, and light filters tuned to specific wavelengths to increase contrast with the sky and accurately track space debris even in broad daylight.

Space debris is a serious problem that won’t be going away anytime soon, but researchers have put forward a novel way to keep things in check, making a case for charging satellite operators an “orbital-use fee” to reduce the risk of collisions.

DirecTV has been granted permission by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to send a damaged communications satellite in danger of exploding due to its severely damaged batteries into an emergency disposal trajectory.

ESA has commissioned the world's first mission to recover a piece of space debris in orbit. At the end of November, the Ministerial Council consortium awarded a service contract to a consortium for the ClearSpace-1 mission to launch in 2025.

ESA has been forced to reposition its Aeolus satellite to avoid a collision with a member of SpaceX’s Starlink mega constellation.

In an effort to reduce the amount of space debris circling the Earth, the World Economic Forum and its partners are working on a Space Sustainability Rating (SSR) that will indicate how well satellite operators and launchers are complying with debris mitigation guidelines.

It what seems like a paradox, engineers have been blowing up batteries in hopes of cleaning up space debris. In a series of severe "abuse" tests at the test bunkers of France’s CEA, lithium-ion batteries were tortured to better understand catastrophic battery failures and prevent battery explosions.

Space has the prospect of one day getting a bit cleaner as a satellite harpooned a piece of simulated debris in low Earth orbit. The RemoveDEBRIS technology demonstrator deployed a target panel at the end of a boom, then skewered it with a metal harpoon traveling at 20 m/s (44.7 mph, 72 km/h).

Dutch artist and designer Daan Roosegaarde has a knack for raising environmental awareness through spectacular and symbolic pieces of art, and his freshly launched Space Waste Lab might be his most impressive installation yet.

A team of researchers has come up with plasma beam that can push space debris out of orbit. Mounted on a satellite, the two-way facing beam is produced by a bespoke ion thruster that uses its discharge to decelerate debris so it can burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.

Technology designed to clean up space has captured its first bit of simulated space debris in orbit. Part of the RemoveDEBRIS mission, a balloon acted as a target for the RemoveDEBRIS satellite, which fired a weighted net from a range of seven meters (23 ft)​ and successfully snared the "debris."​