• Question: Are you creating any inventions to clear all the waste that humans have put into space?

    Asked by scarlet to Alex on 4 Dec 2015.
    • Photo: Alexander Finch

      Alexander Finch answered on 4 Dec 2015:

      In a way, yes. When we design a satellite, we have to wonder what will happen to it when it finishes its mission. We have to make sure it doesn’t just stay up there forever and pose a risk to future satellites and astronauts!

      But your question was more about what is already up there – and there is a lot! It’s a real problem and some other people are looking at ways to bring that rubbish back before it causes a problem. There are too many things up there to clear everything, but we want to get rid of the biggest chunks of debris – things like old rocket boosters. These are important to remove as they could smash into each other and create thousands of bits of debris – which would be bad…

      In time, all the bits will fall down harmlessly, but this will take decades to centuries to happen, so we want to speed it up!

Comments