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This Robot Could Help Cleanup Earth’s Space-Junk Problem
Amaze Lab
Follow
3/20/2024
Earth has a bit of a space junk problem in low orbit. Currently, there are around 9,500 active satellites floating up in space with myriad purposes, but there are countless other defunct bits of junk cluttering Earth’s orbital area.
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Learning
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00:00
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03
Earth has a bit of a space junk problem in low orbit.
00:06
Currently, there are nearly 9,500 active satellites
00:10
floating up in space with myriad purposes.
00:12
And that's why orbital debris removal startup Astroscale
00:15
is looking to get their foot in the door with this,
00:18
a robot that is meant to travel up there and get
00:20
rid of defunct satellites.
00:22
So do we really need what is essentially
00:24
a space garbage program?
00:25
Here's Nick Shave, director of Astroscale, to explain.
00:29
Space debris is a big problem for all of us on Earth.
00:33
Basically, since the start of the space age in 1957,
00:36
we've had a throwaway culture in space.
00:38
We've put lots of objects in space,
00:40
and we've basically not removed them.
00:42
We've not recycled them or done anything else.
00:45
So there's 10,000 tons of debris in space,
00:48
near 40,000 objects, all floating around
00:51
in different orbits.
00:52
The robot was built by Airbus, with the company's head
00:54
of advanced concepts calling the whole process a space ballet,
00:58
where the robot must first be sent into space via a rocket
01:01
before it can make its way to the space debris and capture it.
01:04
The debris will then be lowered into Earth's atmosphere,
01:07
where it will burn up.
01:08
And experts say Earth orbit cleanup can't come soon enough,
01:11
as many worry about the Kessler effect,
01:13
or a chain reaction that could happen if space junk begins
01:16
to run into each other, creating a debris field that
01:19
could destroy thousands of satellites currently doing
01:22
their jobs.
01:24
[MUSIC PLAYING]
01:27
(upbeat music)
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