Space Debris Removal
While the long term health of the newspace economy likely hinges on clearing the space junk traffic jam the situation will probably have to get much worse i e the destruction of some really expensive stuff before the industry decides to pay for these services.
Space debris removal. Space debris removal is a solution in need of a market. London business wire the space debris monitoring and removal market size is poised to grow by usd 610 47 million during 2020 2024 progressing at a cagr of almost 5 throughout the forecast. The mission is being procured as a service contract with a startup led commercial consortium to help establish a new market for in orbit servicing as well as debris removal.
If this were not the case most of the required adr effort would go to compensate for the non compliance of new objects. Specifically fujitsu astroscale the university of glasgow and amazon web services aws are undertaking a project to develop a proof of value to make space debris removal missions more commercially viable. Astroscale holdings a japan based orbital debris removal company announced that it has raised us 51 million in a series e funding round led by venture capital firm astart co.
Esa safety security clean space clearspace 1 will be the first space mission to remove an item of debris from orbit planned for launch in 2025. Uk space agency funding. The e deorbit mission first proposed publicly in early 2014 would seek out satellite debris in a polar orbit at an altitude between 800 and 1 000 kilometers 500 to 620 miles.
However expect the sector to expand especially as competition heats up in the launch sector. Active debris removal adr is necessary to stabilise the growth of space debris but even more important is that any newly launched objects comply with post mission disposal guidelines especially orbital decay in less than 25 years.