Space junk satellite made in Surrey reaches International Space Station
A harpoon and a net will be used by the experimental RemoveDEBRIS mission to clear up some of the thousands of pieces of debris in orbit
An experimental space hoover, partly developed by the University of Surrey , has reached the International Space Station (ISS) on its mission to clean up space.
The RemoveDEBRIS satellite, designed and manufactured by a consortium led by the university , was launched from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on April 2. It is intended to show how space junk might be removed from the Earth's orbit, clearing the way for future missions.
Once it is released from the ISS later in April 2018, RemoveDEBRIS will use a net and a harpoon to snare pieces of space junk before returning to Earth and burning up in the atmosphere. Researchers hope this will prove a cost-effective way of tackling space debris.
The European Space Agency (ESA) estimated in 2013 that there were more than 170 million pieces of debris larger than 1mm across, 670,000 pieces larger than 1cm and around 29,000 pieces larger than 10cm.
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Some of the junk, the debris of previous space missions, orbits the Earth at speeds of almost 30,000 miles per hour.
For comparison, the average bullet travels at just 1,700mph, making some of this space junk a serious safety concern that could make it impossible to leave Earth if the risk of collision becomes too great.
According to the ESA, a piece of debris even 1mm across could destroy sub-systems on board a spacecraft, whereas a piece 1cm across would be enough to disable spacecraft. Collision with a 10cm-diametre object would be catastrophic.
Professor Guglielmo Aglietti, director of the Surrey Space Centre at the University of Surrey, said: "It is important to remember that a few significant collisions have already happened.
"Therefore, to maintain the safety of current and future space assets, the issue of the control and reduction of space debris has to be addressed.
"We believe the technologies we will be demonstrating with RemoveDEBRIS could provide feasible answers to the space junk problem - answers that could be used on future space missions in the very near future."
In 2016, the European Space Agency's Sentinel-1A satellite was hit by a millimetre-sized piece of debris, which left a dent of about 10cm in one of the satellite's solar panels. Another collision occurred in 2007, when some debris blew a bullet-like hole in the radiator panel of the space shuttle Endeavour.
The RemoveDEBRIS satellite under construction at the Surrey Space Centre (Image: Max Alexander/SSTL)