How to clean up our space waste

From orbit to junkyard: For over 50 years we’ve been rocketing more and more objects
into low Earth orbit. That could soon turn another environment into an unusable junkyard of space waste. With increasing reliance on satellites, outer space needs urgent attention and cleanup solutions.

Credits:
Reporter: Amelia Hemphill
Video Editor: Markus Mörtz
Supervising Editor: Michael Trobridge

We're destroying our environment at an alarming rate. But it doesn't need to be this way. Our new channel Planet A explores the shift towards an eco-friendly world — and challenges our ideas about what dealing with climate change means. We look at the big and the small: What we can do and how the system needs to change. Every Friday we'll take a truly global look at how to get us out of this mess.

#PlanetA #SpaceWaste #Cleaningupspace

Read more:

Basic information on space debris by the European Space Agency

European Space Agency on the socio-economic impacts of too much space debris

Study on threats and removal techniques of space debris

Photography series of space debris

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:54 Why space junk is dangerous
02:35 Ingenious solutions
04:35 How to de-orbit
07:16 Challenges
09:13 Conclusion

[DWPlanetA]

What do you think, how can we manage to save space from becoming a junkyard?

[colin]

Perhaps every satellite launch should include a junk cleanup fee.

[h.vanzeijl]

New satellites should have de-orbiting hardware, much cheaper compared with launching a de-orbiter to hunt space junk. However, making de-orbiting hardware mandatory requires global legislation and that takes years if it ever will happen. But in the end, lower orbits will clean itself, though it will probably decades so not centuries.

[ngan]

It will get to the point you can never leave the Earth

[FrankensteinDIYkayak]

I saw an article on this 20 years ago where it stated that if there were no new high shedding spacecraft then the exponential increase of debris from the craft already in orbit would lead to LEO being unable to penetrate by 2025. whats the new date with all the new constellations?

[nenitaschmidt]

Satelie should be registered, the country should pay for the clean up. Who shoot a satelite up should pay for the junk.

[kedrednael]

At 7:41 the video does not show a laser broom in action! It shows a telescope that does laser-range finding of satellites and laser communication with satellites. Laser brooms have never been used or build.

[Noukz]

Again Wall-E proves to be spot-on with it's predictions. 😓

[ethanholka]

A scary thought is that we could be trapped on Earth for the rest of human history for not cleaning up our orbit now.

[ryanartward]

Im wondering if instead of sending expensive and energy exhaustive probes to hault them down, maybe something that creates a "dust bunny" of space junk. Quagulating them into one mass and yank it down from orbid in mass. Metal in hard vacuum welds togeather so maybe something we could use to an advantage.

[DC]

Probably best to retrofit a spacex starship with powerful magnet, collect trash and compact into cubes that are either pushed towards Earth's athmosphere or even transported back to earth for recycling

[himanshusingh]

Most of space debris created by G7 countries. So they must took cleaning responsibilities too. Why would everyone held accountable??

[johng.]

Every company and government involved shout pay a fee to clean up the space debris.

[SoFunMe]

It seems that the most economical way to reduce/clean up space junk is to slow it down and let Earth's gravity pull the object down to burn up. This video covered a "space grappler" that appears to catch or latch onto an object and then slow it down to fall into the atmosphere. They should create a reusable grappler that will just slow the object down and then release it to fall from a specified point. I know they would have to continually recharge the grappler with propellant, so they would need a docking platform for them to recharge like a gas station. One of the satellite tracking companies referred to herein, would be empowered to 'fly' the many grapplers, and part of the cost of any launch would pay for the propellent delivery to the docking platform. They could operate hundreds of those grapplers around the globe and dozens of recharging platforms.

As for new satellites being launched, an international treaty should be adopted mandating that every new satellite to be launched would be required to have a deorbiting mechanism to remove it from space when its mission is over. Nobody wants to risk lives or dollars because of space junk, so every nation would likely approve of the treaty. In 10 or 15 years, the space debris field would be half as crowded. But the next problem would be how to remove small pieces like screws and tools dropped in space that are too small to track and are flying faster than bullets! Maybe magnetized nets as big as a warehouse?

[jedics]

They so casually talk about just burning it up in earths orbit like it magically disappears but we end up breathing that crap....

[KALA.]

Surely we could create a giant ship-like ‘skip’. Which is non penetrable with armour similar to the space station. This skip could collect trash, compact it down with a crusher and then dock it into a transporter ship back to earth for recycling. Yes, it’s very Star Wars like, but it’s thinkable so therefore it’s doable

[taraswertelecki]

These satellites and rockets are made of materials worth reclaiming. Recovery and recycling in space will likely become a reality.

[hagopakasparian]

The space junk is created by few countries, its their responsiblity to clear the junk they have created not the international community

[RolferShannon]

Why isn't anyone talking about how This space junk is mass from the Earth that we were putting outside into the atmosphere. Just like a cells mitosis. It reminds me of something I heard Terrance McKenna say crawling out of the ocean is going to look like a tiny step in our evolution compared to what's coming next.

[verafleck]

There was an early warning in 1978, by Kessler.