An Australian company has developed the world’s first device capable of capturing space debris from multiple targets and storing it on satellites for recycling.
Paladin Space founder Harrison Box said space debris was a growing issue that posed significant threats to satellites and space missions.
Mr Box said their product, Triton, would be able to capture multiple pieces of debris in a single mission.
“Triton will make the process of debris removal more sustainable and cost effective while also being able to eject its contents on space targets, preserving the spacecraft in orbit to be reused for other missions.”
He said the South Australian-based team was designing Triton to be compatible with future in-orbit recycling solutions so its contents could be delivered in-orbit as materials for manufacturing.
“We are designing Triton to be able to dock easily with these in-orbit manufacturing stations so that the contents it collects can be recycled into metal rods or sheets for manufacturing satellites.
“Not only is this practice sustainable, but incredibly cost effective for satellite manufacturers to ‘skip’ the launch phase of a mission and simply build their assets in space.”
He said the Triton container was designed to capture many small pieces of debris such as fragments from collisions, however, the product was scalable depending on the mission.
“If a customer wants a larger volume, they could achieve 600mm (0.6m) cubed, or smaller missions may only require 300mm (0.3m) cubed.”
Mr Box said a recent report found that the ‘In-Orbit Servicing Market’ was expected to reach $4.7b by 2031, and roughly half of that market was debris removal and salvaging.
