Story at a glance
- The space around Earth is becoming increasingly crowded with satellites, used rocket parts and other materials left behind by humans.
- On Saturday, one Twitter user asked Musk if SpaceX had considered a way to eventually collect space debris, “since it could directly affect its business in the future if it gets out of control.”
- “Yes, we can fly Starship around space & chomp up debris with the moving fairing door,” Musk tweeted in response.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says the private rocket company’s Starship rocket system could be used to collect space junk orbiting the Earth.
The space around Earth is becoming increasingly crowded with satellites, used rocket parts and other materials left behind by humans. More than 27,000 pieces of space junk are currently being tracked by the Department of Defense’s global Space Surveillance Network (SSN) sensors to avoid collisions, according to NASA.
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The amount of debris is only expected to grow as more companies are sending spacecraft and satellites into orbit, including SpaceX’s network of more than 1,600 Starlink satellites. SpaceX is aiming to put up a constellation of 42,000 satellites by 2027.
On Saturday, one Twitter user asked Musk if SpaceX had considered any way to eventually collect space debris, “since it could directly affect its business in the future if it gets out of control.”
“Yes, we can fly Starship around space & chomp up debris with the moving fairing door,” Musk tweeted in response.
Yes, we can fly Starship around space & chomp up debris with the moving fairing door
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 3, 2021
According to SpaceX, the Starship’s fairing door opens when it reaches a certain orbit to deploy a payload and closes before returning to Earth.
Musk did not elaborate on how the process would work.
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Last year, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell told Time Magazine Starship could possibly store space junk in its cargo bay until returning to Earth.
SpaceX has launched several Starship prototypes and successfully carried out controlled landings earlier this year. The success marks a milestone in improving the development of reusable spacecraft to carry crew and cargo on interplanetary flights.
The company is developing the spacecraft to send humans to the moon and Mars. SpaceX is aiming to launch Starship into Earth’s orbit for the first time next month.
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