Purdue University engineers have developed a space-debris-clearing drag sail called Spinnaker3 that is designed to speed up the deorbiting of space junk up to 400 miles (645 km) high so it safely ...

Engineers are set to test a device that could pull defunct spacecraft and used rocket parts back to Earth, allowing them to burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere. Researchers at Purdue University in ...

China began an effort to manage the space junk orbiting Earth by attaching a giant sail to the rocket it launched last month, which would facilitate its reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere. On June 24 ...

ADEO being deployed from the ION Satellite Carrier during the December 2022 test. Gif: High Performance Space Structure Systems/Gizmodo There’s a lot of junk orbiting our planet, from tiny flecks of ...

Future satellites could deploy solar sails to help take down pieces of space junk floating around Earth and a tiny new spacecraft hopes to make it possible. A British satellite the size of a shoe box ...

Anyone who’s seen the Oscar-baiting visual spectacle that is Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, knows in vivid 3D detail just how dangerous space debris can be. Leaving aside the ...

This kite-like space sail will help deorbit a rocket component within two years. Image: Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology Engineers in China have successfully deployed an ultra-thin sail ...

A large sail deployed by China aims to deorbit a rocket component within two years. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. China has ...

The drag sail was launched on a Long March 2nd rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest China on June 23rd, 2022. The rocket was launched by China to deliver three remote sensing ...

Chinese space scientists have said they successfully used a huge space sail to remove debris from Earth's orbit. Announced by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology on July 6, the huge sail ...

The first spacecraft designed to do away with itself was unveiled on Friday. It will try out an idea that could stop space getting clogged up with junk orbiting the Earth. The debris of abandoned ...