‘Space junk’ collector to clean up the space

TOKYO: Japan will launch a cargo ship bound for the International Space Station, carrying a ‘space junk’ collector that was made with the help of a fishnet company. The vessel, dubbed “Kounotori” (stork in Japanese), will blast off from the southern island of Tanegashima attached to an H-IIB rocket. Scientists at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are experimenting with a tether to pull junk out of orbit around Earth, clearing up tonnes of space clutter including cast-off equipment from old satellites and pieces of rocket. More than 50 years of human space exploration since the Soviet-launched Sputnik satellite in 1957 has produced this hazardous belt of orbiting debris. There are estimated to be more than 100 million pieces in orbit, posing a growing threat to future space exploration, scientists say. Researchers are using a so-called electrodynamic tether made from thin wires of stainless steel and aluminium. — AFP