Clearspace-1 space debris cleanup target in orbit just got struck by space debris
Space junk does seem to be a growing problem.
The target for a space debris cleanup mission is apparently in pieces.
A leftover rocket adapter, expected to be removed from low Earth orbit in 2026, has new pieces of space debris floating nearby. That's a likely aftereffect of being hit by something small flying through space. The problem was spotted by the 18th Space Defense Squadron of the U.S. Space Force, which monitors satellite movements.
That's an unexpected event for the European Space Agency's ClearSpace-1 mission, which is a planned test mission to remove that adapter in 2026. The adapter is a conical-shaped leftover, roughly 250 pounds (113 kg) in mass, from a 2013 Vega launch that sent a small fleet of satellites into orbit. Space tracking systems found new objects nearby the adapter, which ESA learned about on Aug. 10. The objects are likely space debris from a "hypervelocity impact of a small, untracked object" that smacked into the payload adapter, the agency said. We may never know if the crashing object was natural or artificial, given it didn't appear in tracking systems.
Related: Space junk cleanup mission to launch in 2026 aboard Arianespace rocket
"This fragmentation event underlines the relevance of the ClearSpace-1 mission," ESA officials wrote in a statement Tuesday (Aug. 22). "The most significant threat posed by larger objects of space debris is that they fragment into clouds of smaller objects, that can each cause significant damage to active satellites."
While it appears only a small piece of the rocket hardware was lost after the collision, the mission plan assumed fully intact hardware. Now evaluations are ongoing to figure out what's next, and the analysis will persist for weeks at the least.
The planned ClearSpace-1 mission aims to "rendezvous, capture and remove" the adapter using a spacecraft from the Swiss startup ClearSpace, according to a recent release from mission partner Arianespace. A lightweight Vega-C rocket from Arianespace will bring the cleanup spacecraft to orbit under the ESA-funded mission.
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The plan calls for ClearSpace's spider-shaped vehicle with "legs" to enclose and then push back into Earth a payload adapter, which is the structure that connects spacecraft with their launch vehicle.
With the planned launch of ClearSpace-1 three years away, there is time to figure out what to do. But the incident creates even more uncertainty for an already challenging mission. There is only so much ground stations can see above the orbit of the International Space Station; the original payload adapter was only six feet or two meters in diameter and at an altitude only as low as 410 miles (660 km).
Luckily, however, follow-up tracking from the U.S. Space Force and other stations in Germany and Poland found "the main object remains intact and has experienced no significant alteration to its orbit," ESA said. And happily, the risk of these new objects hitting something else is "negligible."
Space debris from humans will take a while to address. Nearly 70 years of space exploration has left a staggering number of pieces to deal with. ESA estimates that Earth orbit has at least 36,500 debris objects that are more than 4 inches (10 centimeters) wide. Including the smallest trackable objects, that number balloons to an incredible 330 million objects bigger than 0.04 inches (1 millimeter).
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Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace
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Classical Motion That's hilarious. And shows there is a problem. Everybody forgets Murphy. The number of collisions has been small. And ignored. What statisticians don't realize is....that when the collisions start....they will multiply. And all of a sudden, space debris becomes a serious problem. They don't know Murphy. He waits for situations like this.Reply
This capture strategy is too cumbersome, too time consuming, too resource consuming. Long term make work.
We need to be able to target orbital debris with lasers, and ionize the debris. One would think that charged objects would migrate towards the poles and eventually fall. We need to ionize many different sizes. And even electrically bump them down if needed. This will take power. Very large panels or nuclear power. But it would clear debris much faster. And could do cleaning maintenance. -
thatguy00
that would be a smart thing to do but sadly smart and practical things are rarely done because its to simply ☹️Classical Motion said:That's hilarious. And shows there is a problem. Everybody forgets Murphy. The number of collisions has been small. And ignored. What statisticians don't realize is....that when the collisions start....they will multiply. And all of a sudden, space debris becomes a serious problem. They don't know Murphy. He waits for situations like this.
This capture strategy is too cumbersome, too time consuming, too resource consuming. Long term make work.
We need to be able to target orbital debris with lasers, and ionize the debris. One would think that charged objects would migrate towards the poles and eventually fall. We need to ionize many different sizes. And even electrically bump them down if needed. This will take power. Very large panels or nuclear power. But it would clear debris much faster. And could do cleaning maintenance. -
NoFrillsBill I'm curious....did they send another craft up to follow this one around to take pictures of it? 🤨Reply -
Paultergeist
The launch is planned for 2026. That picture is an artist's impression.NoFrillsBill said:I'm curious....did they send another craft up to follow this one around to take pictures of it? 🤨 -
meohmy2023 330 million objects circling the earth for the sake of exploring and bettering humanity. Sounds like the ocean pollution we're currently not doing anything about. But at least SPACE is cooler!! 😀Reply -
Classical Motion It's not just all the debris. All the machines up there have many EM emitters. All kinds of emitters. We can't hear anything here on earth now, too much noise. If we were beamed a message, we'd never hear it.Reply
Can you hear me now? No. We need to put ears on the far side of the moon to hear anything. And the way it's going, we'll have to put telescopes on the far side to see anything. -
Brad I realize this is a technology demonstrator but unless you can scale this up, it's barely "debris neutral". Won't this leave behind it's own payload adapter? It's an even trade, or worse. To make a dent you would need huge fleets of these (more debris, light pollution, rocket launches) and each would have to be able to deorbit orders of magnitude more debris than what they leave behind to make any difference.Reply