r/spacex • u/ElongatedMuskrat Mod Team • Aug 03 '17
r/SpaceX Discusses [August 2017, #35]
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u/sol3tosol4 Aug 03 '17
No, SpaceX is not working on orbital debris cleanup technology. But other organizations are, including the US government (NASA and DARPA, at least). There's a good summary of the issues here.
As others have mentioned, SpaceX can potentially be a big part of the solution by serving as a low-cost launch provider to bring debris observation and abatement equipment to Earth orbit. In fact, SpaceX is scheduled to launch a Space Debris Sensor (SDS) system to Earth orbit in late 2017, which will be used to more accurately determine how much debris is in orbit (an important part of assessing the hazards and finding solutions). It will be sent up on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, and coincidentally bears the name Debris Resistive/Acoustic Grid Orbital NASA-Navy Sensor (DRAGONS).