Adhesives may Address Space Junk Threat

With various space technologies sending satellites, rocket ships and other spacecraft into outer space, it is inevitable that some debris may get left behind. And it has become a huge problem. Expensive and new satellites are at risk of collision with fragments of defunct satellites. Even a 1cm fragment can seriously damage a satellite, endangering mobile networks, television transmissions, and meteorological forecasting ability. With more than 750,000 fragments of space debris drifting in orbit, a cleanup solution is needed, and Singapore-based satellite services company Astroscale thinks it may have found one.

The company proposes an adhesive-based solution that will magnetically attract space debris to its sticky surfaces. A "mother" unit will have six adhesive-coated "child" units that collect debris before falling into the atmosphere and combusting. Astroscale is set to launch a demonstration mission and seems confident that its space clean-up service will be open for business by 2020.

Both government and private agencies are anticipated to become clients since even the most advanced space agencies haven’t yet found a way to address the space debris issue.