A private company may have come up with an absolutely ingenious way to tackle the space junk problem by using giant space bags to catch debris.
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Our planet is surrounded by roughly 26,500 pieces of debris more than 4 inches wide, according to the European Space Agency. But that number doesn’t even include the smaller pieces, which total upward to 330 million. While some have discussed making it easier to keep debris from building up – like making satellites and other spacecraft more controllable for descents – we still have to find a way to tackle all the trash orbiting our planet already.
That’s where companies like TransAstra come into play. According to Space.com, TransAstra recently received an early-stage NASA contract to create revolutionary space bags that could help catch debris and space junk in orbit, allowing us to more safely bring it back down to Earth, where it can be appropriately disposed of or perhaps even reused.
The contract that TransAstra received is for $850,000, and it will essentially cover the bag, which will be designed to inflate once it reaches orbit. The inflated bag will then be able to move around, capturing different pieces of debris and other things. It’s an intriguing idea, unlike any other space junk solution that has been proposed before it.
However, there is a catch. The space bags will not be available anytime soon because they are still in the early stages of development. It will take many years before such an item is possible. Especially if the goal is to have it ready for flight and be able to expand in orbit. TransAstra’s new contract is a continuation of a contract it received in the past for bags that were designed to catch asteroids, and other space rocks.
While developing that concept, TransAstra realized that space debris and asteroids are very similar. This led them to try to develop a bag to capture space junk that can be used to clear Earth’s orbit.
The post This company wants to use bags to clean up space junk appeared first on BGR.
