Japanese tether en route to ISS to de-orbit space junk

The device is part of the payload on board the H-II Transfer Vehicle Kounotori 6, which launched from the Tanegashima Space Centre on December 9. Known as an electrodynamic tether, or EDT, the junk catcher is made from thin wires of stainless steel and aluminium. It attaches to large pieces of debris, then uses the force created by passing through the Earth’s magnetic field to drag the junk into lower orbits, eventually burning up in the planet’s atmosphere.

After ten years in the planning, the project will culminate when the tether is deployed from the Kounotori as it leaves the ISS with a payload of waste material. The EDT is the result of a collaboration between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Japanese fishing net manufacturer Nitto Seimo.

"The tether uses our fishnet plaiting technology, but it was really tough to intertwine the very thin materials," Nitto Seimo engineer Katsuya Suzuki told AFP.