48. CLEANSPACE ONE

♤ The proliferation of debris orbiting the Earth – primarily jettisoned rocket and satellite components – is an increasingly pressing problem for spacecraft, and it can generate huge costs. To combat this scourge, the Swiss Space Center at EPFL is announcing the launch of CleanSpace One, a project to develop and build the first installment of a family of satellites specially designed to clean up space debris.

♤ The cleanup satellite has three major challenges to overcome, each of which will necessitate the development of new technology that could, in turn, be used down the road in other applications.