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The spacecraft, called Interceptor, will be launched by a rocket from a specially equipped airplane. When it overcomes the lower layers of the atmosphere, the rocket will ignite its engine and already in orbit the device will disconnect from it.
Interceptor will use onboard sensors and a thruster to get closer to a target object – and then “gently” push debris out of orbit using a giant boxing glove.
“The entire space sector is organized to carry out planned, long-duration missions… but orbital cleanups are unplanned, short missions,” says Clyde Lahain, CEO of Paris-based startup Dark, which is developing the Interceptor system.
In this sense, the Interceptor is “more like an air defense missile” that needs to be ready at all times, Lahane adds. At the same time, a direct impact from the device will not create additional debris.
In 2021, Dark completed a funding round for $5 million, and recently closed a round for another $6 million – with the participation of the American investor Long Journey Ventures (this fund is led by Ariel Zuckerberg, the younger sister of the founder of Meta).
In fact, the company still needs to do a lot of work to be able to safely remove something like the second stage of a rocket from orbit. Previously, the startup had focused on developing mission-critical systems such as cryogenic propulsion and software, but now it is developing technologies needed for unscheduled, fast Interceptor missions, such as long-range object detection and tracking, autonomous flight algorithms, and systems for reliable controlled input.
The team must also upgrade the aircraft, which will cost at least $50 million (or about the same price as building a launch pad), and is preparing to conduct a demonstration mission in 2026.
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- Space debris is any inactive equipment or debris left by people in space (auxiliary stages of rockets, inactive satellites, all kinds of debris, screws, nuts, or even a bag of tools). According to recent NASA estimates, there are more than 25 thousand objects in Earth’s orbit larger than 10 cm – and 500 thousand objects up to 10 cm in size.
- As of January 2022, the total weight of material orbiting the Earth exceeded 9,000 metric tons. The speed of debris, like the speed of spacecraft, is extremely high (approximately 25,300 km/h in low Earth orbit), so a collision with even a tiny piece can create big problems for satellites or spacecraft.
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