Satellite Business Elites Want To Invent Space Garbage Trucks To Transport Space Waste

Astrosacle's repair satellite, operational soon. (photo: astroscale).

JAKARTA - Elites from the satellite sector recently met on Maui to come up with a solution for "congested" orbits and space debris. They hope to solve a decades-old problem that gets worse every year.

Recently, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak announced a new startup that will focus on space sustainability. His new company Privateer Space is expected to make an official launch during the Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference.

NASA is currently tracking more than 500,000 pieces of debris and it is estimated that there are millions of pieces of untracked space junk. The debris is moving at up to 28,000 miles per hour. Even the smallest part is capable of causing great destruction.

Space junk is diverse, there are small pieces such as bolts, dead satellites hanging around grave orbits, and even abandoned top-level rockets, and with the launch of new satellites, space junk will continue to increase.

On Maui, Major General DeAnna Burt called for a "space junk truck" to clean up space junk in orbit. “We need to pick up debris – we need garbage trucks,” Major General DeAnna Burt said at the Maui Conference.

Experts at the conference signaled to the work of SpaceLogistics and Astrocale two companies exclusively dedicated to the sustainability of the space environment. These companies' "space junk trucks" are more like "space crane crafts."

While others see space junk, SpaceLogistics and Astrocale see it as an opportunity. They are in the business of extending the life of "dying or dead" satellites. Their spacecraft can navigate, locate, dock, and revive satellites. They can also manage to take them on a destructive spin to a controlled, burnt re-entry.

Astroscale offers ELSA, its End of Life Service to any satellite operator. The company recently launched ELSA-d, the first demonstration mission to prove that the core technology needed for docking and debris removal is possible.

"The main challenge in removing debris, and servicing in orbit in general, is mounting or capturing client objects," an Astroscale source explained. Astrocale has plans to study and eventually get rid of Japan's top-tier rockets.

SpaceLogistics has launched two Mission Extension Vehicle spacecraft. The spacecraft has docked, repositioned, and provided power to the Intelsat IS-901 and Intelsat IS-1002 satellites over the Kármán line.

The new "space trucks" will remain, offering promising and impressive service, but not a one-size-fits-all solution. Of the hundreds of thousands of pieces of dangerous debris, only a few are large enough for this type of expensive mission. The number of satellites in orbit continues to grow by the hour, "collisions will become the norm," experts assure.

"The regulatory framework is please don't crash your satellite, and really please don't crash it into anyone else," said Ruth Stilwell, executive director of Aerospace Policy Solutions, in Maui, as quoted by Breaking Defense.