Bringing ‘space trash’ safely back to Earth
Orbital debris from the defunct satellites and fragments of spent rockets left suspended in Earth’s atmosphere are slowly making their way back to Earth. Objects usually return after a few years, but debris trapped in higher orbits can remain for more than a century. Purdue University’s David Spencer, associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics, aims to develop a system that in the future would deorbit spacecraft launched by companies like SpaceX, OneWeb, and Boeing, as the spacecraft complete their missions.