Europe Sends Robots To Clean Up Space Trash

Illustration of space debris scattered on earth (doc. ESA)

JAKARTA - Many do not know that in outer space there is also garbage scattered. This space debris comes from the wreckage of satellites and the remains of rockets.

According to The European Space Agency (ESA), since the launch of the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1 satellite in 1957, the amount of space debris has increased by more than the satellites flown. The ESA estimates there are about 170 million pieces of extraterrestrial debris orbiting around the earth.

Space debris or space debris can be very dangerous if it falls to earth or hits other satellites. Not to mention if the trash comes from the rest of the shuttle booster rockets.

"Imagine how dangerous it would be to sail the high seas if all the vessels that were declared lost in history were still floating on water. That is the current situation in orbit, and it cannot be allowed to continue," said ESA Director General Jan Woerner. , Friday 13 December 2019.

Therefore, ESA plans to send a robot that can clean up the rubbish. This clean-up mission will be named ClearSpace-1.

The ClearSpace-1 mission will be the first space mission to clear debris in outer space. The cleaning robot is planned for launch in 2025.

Robot ClearSpace-1 (doc. ESA)

Later the robot has 4 hands, made by a Swiss startup company, ClearSpace. The way the robot works, will later lock the debris before returning to Earth, where the robot and trash will burn in the atmosphere.

The robotic launch mission targeted a conical section of an ESA rocket that was left in space in 2013. If all goes well, this mission will follow up on a larger object.

"This is the right time for such a mission. The problem of extraterrestrial debris is more pressing than ever. Today we have nearly 2,000 live satellites in space and more than 3,000 that failed," said ClearSpace founder Luc Piguet.

So far, both NASA, ESA and other space agencies continue to study the best way to clean up rubbish debris in outer space. Some of them by making a large net to collect the trash and directing it into orbit so that it burns itself apart.

There is also a plan from the Japanese space agency, JAXA, to fire magnetic ions to attract space debris that is attracted into orbit and destroyed when it passes through the earth's atmosphere. China even had plans to launch long-range missiles and destroy its old satellites in space.