Robotic Arms to Tackle Space Debris: An Analysis of NASA’s Plan and Efforts

The European Space Agency and a private company called Clearspace are planning to launch a spacecraft in 2026 that will utilize robotic arms to capture a 250-pound rocket part and safely bring it down into the atmosphere to burn up. This action is in response to the increasing problem of space debris, with the U.S. Space Force noting that the rocket part they are targeting was possibly hit by smaller debris last summer.

NASA’s Associate Administrator, Melroy, has experience with various concepts for decluttering orbit from her time at DARPA, including harpoons, nets, or an orbital catcher’s mitt to grab litter in space. NASA is currently finalizing its space sustainability plan before making any significant decisions on whether to lead its own space junk disposal missions or not.

NASA’s annual budgets are determined by Congress, which recently cut the agency’s fiscal year 2024 budget by 2 percent, impacting programs like the Mars sample return mission. A debris disposal mission would require a substantial investment, but NASA’s cost-benefit analysis suggests that removing the top 50 most concerning objects in low Earth orbit would be beneficial in the long run.

Developing technologies such as lasers to move debris away from critical satellites is also considered financially viable and a necessary step in preventing collisions. However, the design and deployment of such garbage-hauling tech will take time, with scaling up operations requiring even longer.

According to planetary scientist Aaron Boley, changing behavior is essential since cleaning up space trash is ineffective if the problem continues to worsen due to continued pollution and the addition of more junk into orbit. The release of NASA’s space sustainability strategy is a positive step towards addressing this issue, but much work still needs to be done to effectively tackle the growing problem of space debris.