Swiss seek funding to build satellite to clean up space junk

Science : The amount of space junk orbiting Earth is increasing. Ranging in size from an entire defunct satellite to pieces of debris less than 10 centimeters across, the junk poses a risk to astronauts and functional satellites. Due to their velocity, even the smaller objects can seriously damage anything they bump into. Researchers at the Swiss Space Center at the école Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne have been working on the technology for a spacecraft that will snag larger pieces of space junk and take them into Earth’s atmosphere to burn up. They’re now seeking $11 million to fund the building and launching of the craft, which could be ready between 2015 and 2017. A guidance and control system used in conjunction with cameras and ion microthrusters would allow the satellite to place itself in the correct orbit, identify the appropriate target, and get close enough to grab it—and then stabilize itself and its quarry before guiding itself toward Earth’s atmosphere. The craft’s potential first target would be Switzerland’s first space mission, a picosatellite called SwissCube that was launched in 2009.