Space Debris – Spaceflight Now

Experimental British satellite tests harpoon in orbit

February 15, 2019

A British satellite released from the International Space Station last year has successfully demonstrated a harpoon that could be used on future missions to clean up space debris, officials announced Friday.

Space junk clean-up demonstrator deployed from space station

June 26, 2018

A small satellite assembled in Britain has been released from the International Space Station, commencing a standalone mission to test technology and techniques that could be used to capture and de-orbit space junk in low Earth orbit.

Chinese space lab burns up on re-entry over Pacific Ocean

April 2, 2018

China’s Tiangong 1 space lab, home to two astronaut crews in 2012 and 2013, fell back to Earth uncontrolled Sunday, likely burning up over the Pacific Ocean as satellite trackers monitored the module’s gradual descent from orbit.

Q&A with Guglielmo Aglietti, RemoveDebris principal investigator (members only)

April 2, 2018

Guglielmo Aglietti is the director of the Surrey Space Center in Britain, and he leads a team of scientists and engineers who developed an experiment named RemoveDebris to demonstrate techniques to approach, capture and remove space junk from orbit.

Eliminating space junk could take step toward reality with station cargo launch

April 1, 2018

European engineers who developed a small satellite hitching a ride to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX supply ship Monday are gearing up for a first-of-a-kind experiment to examine ways to snare a chunk of space junk and tug it back to Earth.

Photos: Falcon 9 lifts off from Cape Canaveral, returns for landing

December 20, 2017

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket closed out a busy 2017 Cape Canaveral launch schedule on Dec. 15 with a successful liftoff on a space station resupply mission. The Falcon 9’s first stage booster, making its second launch, returned to Florida’s Space Coast for an on-target landing.

Station astronauts begin unpacking refurbished SpaceX cargo craft

December 18, 2017

A SpaceX-owned supply ship arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday with 2.4 tons of cargo, including space debris and solar energy monitors mounted in the Dragon spacecraft’s external payload bay and more than 3,400 pounds of gear inside its reused pressurized module.

Video: Dragon capsule arrives at space station

December 18, 2017

Closing out a two-day pursuit following launch from Cape Canaveral, a reused SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule arrived at the International Space Station Sunday with more than 4,800 pounds of supplies and experiments.

Watch the Falcon 9 launch and 1st stage landing from every angle

December 16, 2017

Watch replays of the launch and landing of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon cargo ship to the International Space Station.

SpaceX’s 50th Falcon rocket launch kicks off station resupply mission

December 15, 2017

A cache of cargo bound for the International Space Station lifted off on a commercial SpaceX launcher Friday, thundering into mostly clear skies over Florida’s Space Coast aboard a reused booster that made a bullseye landing back at Cape Canaveral accompanied by a crackling sonic boom.