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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