The European Space Agency (ESA) is looking to develop a space debris retrieval system with an aim to begin clearing unwanted orbital objects by 2022.
As part of its Clean Space initiative, the agency is planning to start the programme of record next year in order to begin deploying the system by 2022, Luisa Innocenti, head of the Clean Space Office ESA, told the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Space Traffic Control conference on 2 July.
‘Our goal is to guarantee the future of space activity by protecting the environment,’ Innocenti explained before adding that it is not yet a programme of