Removal of old satellites from the outer space in the near future can somewhat be like how a fisherman scoops out schools of fish from the waters. The outer space, where NASA and other space agency from different countries reside many of their space satellites, are starting to get crowded. NASA has calculated around 21,000 pieces of space junk with the size of about 3.9 inches are floating around the Earth.
These space junks are bits and pieces of derelict satellites, launch vehicles remnants, bits of space crafts, and the like. The removal and clean-up of these space junk has been under study by the European Space Agency, CNET reported.
Researchers from ESA tested the use of nets as a medium to be used to capture the remnants from the outer space and remove them from orbit. The Falcon 20, or sometimes called to as the "vomit comet," imitated the weightless state of space and let the scientists use a compressed ejector to release a net that will be used to get a big satellite, according to The World Technology News.
The Falcon 20 will have thinner nets which scientists will use to do the snagging of satellites from the outer space. The thinner nets are more effective to use than the thicker ones.
According to ESA engineer Kjetil Wormnes,"The good news is they worked extremely well - so much so that the nets usually had to be cut away with a knife before we could shoot again."
This experiment is about ESA's deorbit mission which is planned to take place sometime in 2021.