XPost: misc.news.internet.discuss   
   From: here@is.invalid   
      
   Space trash cleanup: ESA signs off on first-ever mission   
      
   The European Space Agency is paying millions to a start-up to   
   incinerate a large piece of space junk. Thousands of defunct   
   satellites are still circling the Earth, threatening spacecraft that   
   are still in use.   
      
   A Swiss company is set to launch our planet's first space cleanup   
   mission after the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Thursday they   
   were signing a ... ($102 million) deal with the representatives of the   
   Swiss start-up.   
      
   The firm, ClearSpace, hopes to launch a special satellite by 2025 that   
   would be able to snatch pieces of space debris in the Earth's orbit.   
   Currently, thousands of defunct satellites and many more smaller   
   pieces of trash are circling the planet, posing an ever growing   
   collision risk to working satellites and even the International Space   
   Station.   
      
   "Imagine how dangerous sailing the high seas would be if all the ships   
   ever lost in history were still drifting on top of the water," ESA   
   Director General Jan Worner said while first announcing the mission   
   last December.   
      
      
      
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