A private company may have found an intriguing way to solve the space junk problem, using giant space bags to capture pieces of debris.
Our planet is surrounded by about 26,500 pieces of debris larger than 10 centimeters, the European Space Agency reported. And that number does not include the smaller pieces, which total 330 million. While some argue that making it easier to avoid debris buildup, such as making satellites and other spacecraft more controllable for landing, we still need to find a way to deal with all the debris in orbit around our planet.
Companies such as TransAstra also come into play at this point. TransAstra has received an early-stage NASA contract to create revolutionary space bags that could soon help capture orbiting debris and space debris, Space.com reports. This contract will allow us to more safely return space debris to Earth and properly dispose of, or perhaps reuse, space debris.
TransAstra’s contract is valued at $850,000 and basically covers the bag, which will be designed to inflate once it reaches orbit. The inflated bag will then be able to move around and catch different pieces of debris and other objects. This method is interesting in that it is quite different from other previously proposed space junk solutions.
But as this solution is still in the early stages of development, space bags won’t be ready anytime soon. In fact, it will likely take years to make such a thing possible, especially if we hope to get these devices ready for flight and to be able to inflate in orbit. This new contract builds on TransAstra’s previous contract for space bags designed to capture asteroids and other space rocks.
While working on this idea, the company realized that capturing asteroids and space junk would likely be very similar, which prompted the idea to branch out and work on creating a space litter capture bag that we could use to clear Earth’s orbit.
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