UK companies receive funding to advance space debris solutions

Once the designs are complete, the teams could receive further funding to see Britain’s first national space debris removal mission launch in 2026.

Over 130 million pieces of space debris are estimated to be orbiting Earth, including old satellites, spent rocket bodies and tools dropped by astronauts. Consequently, space debris is one of the biggest challenges facing the global space sector and the UK Space Agency has committed £102m over three years to deliver capabilities to track objects in space and reduce debris.

In a statement, Dr Paul Bate, chief executive of the UK Space Agency, said: “As our reliance on space technologies increases rapidly and the UK becomes a global hub of satellite design, manufacturing and launch, we are committed to leading efforts to make space more sustainable.

“With 1,700 satellites launched last year alone, the need to safeguard the space environment for the benefit of everyone on Earth has never been more pressing.”

Dr Bate continued: “By catalysing investment, backing innovative new technologies and supporting a national mission to remove space debris, we can keep space open for future generations and protect the important satellite services that modern life depends on.

London-based ClearSpace UK and Astroscale, based at the Harwell Space Cluster in Oxfordshire, were chosen after completing feasibility studies of missions to remove derelict objects from space earlier this year.

ClearSpace has been awarded £2.25m to conduct the next phase of a study into a mission which would remove derelict satellites from Low Earth orbit (LEO). This design phase will last until October 2023 and will finish with the preliminary design review.

Astroscale Ltd. has been awarded £1.7m to design a satellite servicer that is capable of removing multiple retired or defunct satellites in a single mission. The Cleaning Outer Space Mission through Innovative Capture (COSMIC) will utilise Astroscale’s rendezvous and Remote Proximity Operations (RPO), and debris capture capabilities.

The company most recently proved their magnetic capture and RPO capability in-orbit during the End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-demonstration (ELSA-d) satellite mission launched in 2021.

The COSMIC servicer will be a technological progression of Astroscale’s Sunrise programme ELSA-M servicer – a commercial partnership between the UK Space Agency, the European Space Agency and satellite operator OneWeb. The ELSA-M multi-client debris removal space servicer will be launched ahead of the UK’s Active Debris Removal mission in late 2024.