Up in space orbiting our planet there is a veritable junk pile swirling around Earth. Which is why Swiss space junk removal firm ClearSpace is going up there with their own device built to clear space junk and bring it back down to Earth. But Houston, they have a problem…
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00:00 Up in space orbiting our planet there is a veritable junk pile swirling around
00:08 Earth. In fact this is a map the European Space Agency has put together showing
00:12 all the bits of debris including defunct satellites and the like whizzing around
00:16 the planet. Which is why Swiss space junk removal firm ClearSpace is going up
00:20 there with their own device built to clear space junk and bring it back down
00:24 to Earth. There's just one problem. Experts believe that the Vega secondary
00:28 payload adapter which was supposed to be the target of a 2023 test of ClearSpace's
00:33 device has actually already been hit by some other space debris and could make
00:36 its removal more dangerous. US space defense imaging has recently shown new
00:41 objects orbiting near the adapter. A sign it was recently hit at high velocity.
00:45 Objects in orbit travel at immense speeds. In fact most satellites travel
00:49 around our planet at around 7,000 miles per hour. Though some can be traveling as
00:53 fast as more than 17,000 miles per hour and collisions in our upper atmosphere
00:57 are becoming more common. Still ClearSpace says they don't believe the
01:01 new orbiting debris will pose any threat to their device. However it does
01:04 highlight just how necessary their work really is.
01:09 (upbeat music)
01:12 (upbeat music)