Episode 44: Not All That Orbits is Gold: Space Debris

We hear about the dangers of space debris all the time – the high velocities with which discarded or disused manmade objects travel around the Earth and the threat that high-speed impacts, even of small debris pieces, pose to satellites.

Technologies are currently being developed to mitigate this, including by the company Astroscale. Alex Godfrey, Business Development Manager at Astroscale, talks to us about the technical challenges of debris mitigation, as well as future missions and trends. We also discuss the inherent dual-use nature of these technologies and how debris mitigation can be used for nefarious purposes. The question is whether space security and future sustainability measures are doomed to always be at odds – can we keep space free of debris and sleep soundly at night, knowing that robotic arms are orbiting our satellites?