How a “Space Janitor” Could Help Clear Earth’s Growing Orbital Junk

Watch How a “Space Janitor” Could Help Clear Earth’s Growing Orbital Junk - Amaze Lab on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00up in the outer reaches of our atmosphere there are literally thousands of satellites many of

00:08them defunct and simply taking up orbital space enter japanese space junk cleanup company astro

00:14scale who have begun development of what is essentially a space janitor the device will

00:18be launched into space like any other satellite but then it will identify and catch old out of

00:23use ones at the appropriate time it will then shove them back towards earth where they will

00:27then burn up as they re-enter the atmosphere and since astro scale says there are around 10 000

00:32pieces of space junk ready for removal they certainly have their work cut out for them

00:36which is probably why since having won a government contract to do exactly that their stock prices are

00:41soaring reuters reports that astro scale shares have jumped some 51 percent in early trading this

00:47is all part of japan's plans to double its space industry over the next few years hoping to boost

00:52business and bolster its national security from orbit and this is good news for all of us as

00:57the space around our planet is getting a bit too cluttered for comfort