Cosmic Clutter: European Space Agency and Private Company Plan Daring Mission to Capture Rocket Parts and Reduce Space Debris

In 2026, the European Space Agency and private company Clearspace are planning to launch a spacecraft that will use robotic arms to capture a 250-pound rocket part and safely bring it down into the atmosphere to burn up. This mission is in response to the growing 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 is also taking steps to address the issue of space debris, but its plans are still in development. 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. However, NASA’s annual budgets are determined by Congress and recent cuts have impacted programs like the Mars sample return mission.

Developing technologies such as lasers to move debris away from critical satellites is also being considered financially viable and a necessary step in preventing collisions. However, designing and deploying such garbage-hauling tech will take time and scaling up operations will require even longer.

Planetary scientist Aaron Boley believes that NASA’s release of its space sustainability strategy is a positive step but there is still much work to be done. 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.