The main goal is to fly an IOC low-cost mission aiming to de-risk and verify technologies needed for future ADR missions. Our main role was to provide the DebriSat’s deployers, which are key elements for the success of the mission. The RemoveDebris mission, co-funded by the European Union, has already completed three successful experiments. Previously, it used a net to capture a simulated piece of debris and tested a LiDAR-based navigation system to identify space junk. The project aims to address the growing issue of space debris, with over 40,000 objects tracked by the US Space Surveillance Network, totaling more than 7,600 tonnes of space junk in orbit.

The project is led by the Surrey Space Centre at the University of Surrey, with spacecraft assembly taking place at Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL). The harpoon, designed by Airbus Stevenage, features a 1.5-meter boom that fires at 20 meters per second to capture space junk by penetrating the target.