LONDON – A United Kingdom-led project to showcase methods to tackle space junk has just been pushed out of the International Space Station (ISS).
The RemoveDebris satellite was ejected a short while ago with the help of a robotic arm.
The 100-kilogram craft, built in Guildford, has a net and a harpoon.
These are just two of the multiple ideas currently being considered to snare rogue hardware, some 7,500 tons of which is now said to be circling the planet.
This material – old rocket parts and broken fragments of spacecraft – poses a collision hazard to operational satellites that deliver important services, such as telecommunications.
The £13-million RemoveDebris spacecraft was taken to the ISS in April and stored onboard ahead of Wednesday’s release.
The spacecraft was pushed out of an airlock where a robotic arm then picked it up gave it a gentle nudge down and away from the 400 kilometer-high lab.
In the process, RemoveDebris became the largest satellite to ever be deployed from the International Space Station. The time was about 12:35 BST.
Ground controllers in Guildford were hoping to pick up a signal from the spacecraft a couple of hours later as it passed over the UK.
“In the first month, month-and-a-half, we will spend our time checking the health of the satellite,” said principal investigator Prof. Guglielmo Aglietti from the Surrey Space Centre. (BBC)
