“When the harpoon impacts [the satellite], it is actually going to simulate a real spacecraft being hit,” said Jason Forshaw, the project manager of RemoveDebris.
Forshaw said the idea for the project came from the need to prevent the danger that space debris poses to the world’s current and future spacecraft.
“Certain orbits – which are commonly used for imaging the earth, disaster monitoring and weather observation – are quickly filling up with junk, which could jeopardize the important satellites orbiting there,” said Forshaw. “A future big impact between junk in that orbit could result in a real life ‘gravity-like’ chain reaction of collisions. The international community needs to start working together now to remove space junk.”
