Has Airbus Found the White Whale of Space Junk Mitigation?
By Kendall Russell | March 21, 2018
Rendition of space junk surrounding Earth. Photo: ESA.
Call me Ishmael! Or… Airbus? The company is working on a supersized harpoon that could be used to snatch rogue satellites out of their orbits. “Once the tip is inside, it has a set of barbs that open up and stop the harpoon from coming back out. We’d then de-tumble the satellite with a tether on the other end,” said Airbus advanced project engineer Alastair Wayman.