00:03In the last five years alone, SpaceX subsidiary Starlink has put more than 6,000 satellites into orbit around our
00:10planet with the intent to send up some 40,000 more.
00:14That's just SpaceX, meaning there are thousands more up there, and they don't last forever.
00:18That's why one U.S. startup wants to make their business cleaning up our upper atmosphere.
00:23The company is called Privateer, co-founded by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, and they want to use AI to
00:29track and return trash satellites.
00:32The first step is tracking every single object in orbit, from space debris to working satellites, using their ground-based
00:38Wayfinder.
00:39Here's Privateer rep Declan Lynch to explain.
00:41So what's really interesting is our Wayfinder platform tracks over 35,000 objects, each of which is traveling over 17
00:48,000 miles per hour.
00:49That even includes objects that are less than 4 inches in diameter.
00:53He says to be able to track that many objects and to be able to plan to predict where their
00:57orbits will be over the next 24 to 72 hours requires a lot of data and a lot of computational
01:02power.
01:03That's where AI comes in.
01:04And we're able to leverage the power of AI to do that in a fraction of the time that it
01:08previously took humans to do.
01:10And this is important as the sky above our heads is quickly filling up.
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