Page 9 - Trashing the Planet: Examining Our Global Garbage Glut

for 2021. On this mission, a spacecraft nicknamed the garbage truck will
rendezvous with and capture a zombie satellite. The garbage truck will use
robotic arms or a large net to grab the satellite. The garbage truck will then
push the satellite into Earth’s atmosphere, where it will burn up. Robin
Biesbroek of the ESA explains the difficulties involved:

We have to take many things into account . . . such as how costly
[the garbage truck] will be to develop, how [adaptable] it will be
to changing circumstances, how heavy it is, how strongly it can
hold the debris, how easy it is to perform a second try if the first
try fails, and how much it fulfills the requirement to not create
any extra debris. . . . Many technologies of this mission are new,
as nobody has ever removed debris from orbit.

Researchers at Texas A&M University in College Station are designing
a system called the Space Sweeper with Sling-Sat (4S). This cleanup craft

Engineers at space agencies and universities are designing remotely controlled vehicles
that might be able to clean up space junk. This one, the Space Sweeper with Sling-Sat,
would fling debris back into Earth’s atmosphere, where it would naturally burn up and
disintegrate. The flinging motion would also propel the Sweeper through space.

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