Solutions to Space Junk

Hayden Bicknell
What is space junk?
Space junk is machinery or debris that humans
have left in space, this can be as small as a fleck of
paint or as big as a satellite.
Why is it a problem?
Space junk is a problem because it is cluttering up
the earth's orbit. There are thousands upon
thousands of pieces up there. Unless we do
something we will eventually never be able to
launch anything up into space because we will run
into an object that could destroy what is being
launched. Nowadays though, there are some
technologies being developed to solve this.
Clearspace-1 claw – a technological
solution to space debris
 Clearspace is a Swiss startup that is

Clearspace being supported and funded by

ESA(European Space Agency).
Clearspace’s mission is to rid space of
Why I’m choosing to focus on it the debris that tumbles around.
 What is Clearspace
designing to solve
this?
Clearspace is designing a claw to help clear
space by bringing things back and burning
them in the atmosphere. The first object
the claw is designed for is a small satellite
the size up a washing machine up in space.
How does it work?
The claw clearspace is designing has pinchers made to capture objects in space. It will
have no pilot instead controlled by technology and coding. It will then either proceed
to dock somewhere to fix a satellite that is still salvageable or will bring the object
down into earth's atmosphere in order to burn up the object and itself. This is quite
wasteful, this claw is costing the equivalent of 120 million USD for it to burn up right
after it’s been launched. While this is a problem it is necessary, once they test it out
they can develop more efficient ones, ones that can catch bigger objects. Clearspace
even says that they want to develop a claw that can capture more than one piece of
debris.
What are the barriers the claw faces?
Because most of the objects that the claw will be capturing are not working it means
that they will be tumbling around in space . This means that getting a straight angle
will be much harder for the claw and will complicate the capture. The claw also has to
avoid the very things it’s been designed to clear, space debris. If they don’t get this claw
up in space and working for its first test run (which is set to launch in 2025) it won’t
be able to launch up into space and clear the debris. It’s final barrier that ends it’s life is
the fact that in its first test launch it will burn up along with the satellite it is burning.
Here is an animated demonstration of how the claw will work:
What’s the Science behind space
junk and the claw that follows?
Why does debris orbit?
There is a reason the debris hasn’t just floated off and away into space. Because of the
earth’s gravitational pull it circles the earth. This keeps the debris circling the earth and
because there is very little friction in space some objects can be going at 22000 mph.
Have you ever tried playing the claw game at an arcade? Imagine having to do that
with objects tumbling at extremely fast speeds!
Why do things in the atmosphere burn up?
Space is a vacuum. This means that there is little to
no air resistance and because of that objects can
reach speeds of over a thousand miles per hour.
But when it returns to earth's atmosphere it is no
longer in a vacuum. The atmosphere is made up of
gas and when gas compresses quickly it heats up.
This causes the object to heat up and unless it is
built to withstand the heat(which can reach 3000°
F!), the object will burn up. There are some
dangers with this though. Because while the
satellite is small enough to burn up if the claw goes
on to capture bigger objects they may not burn up
all the way.
What are the ethics behind space
junk?
 Do we make the
choice?
When we launch stuff into space we are
making a choice. The phenomenon of space
junk is entirely man-made. Each time though,
we continue to make that choice. But it is not
necessarily we the people’s choice, instead
governments or company’s choices.
We don’t and yet we reap many benefits, but so do the companies
When we send satellites up to space almost everybody benefits in some way. Satellites
allow us the people to have everyday luxuries we take for granted. It also benefits the
companies that send them up, because they make lots of profit on the money we spend
to enjoy the luxuries we have.
Who is paying for the cleanup?
ESA which is funding Clear Spaces claw signed a contract with Clearspace to give
them 107 million US dollars. With a little bit of research, you can find that this money
is coming out of the european taxpayers pounds. Now it doesn’t cost each individual
that much, but you as a person are paying for something like this. While clearing space
is objectively a good thing, if you really don’t think we should go then you might want
your money to go elsewhere. But it’s not, so it begs the question of where they should
be drawing funds for. It’s also important to understand that ESA is cleaning up their
own messes, problems they created along with other space agencies and private
companies. At least ESA is attempting to fix it, other’s just ignore it and go on with
sending stuff up there.
Thank You
Works cited
● https://www.youtube.com/@ClearSpace/videos
● https://www.science.org/content/article/europe-plans-space-claw-capture-orbiting-j
unk
● https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/ESA_purchases_world-first_debris_removal_miss
ion_from_start-up
● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIBCQRtbuWA
● https://mashable.com/article/nasa-satellite-crash-january-2023
● https://science.howstuffworks.com/question308.htm#:~:text=When%20the%20met
eor%20hits%20the,until%20there%20is%20nothing%20left.