A satellite that can clean up space junk with a magnet that will be launched soon

The satellite will demonstrate for the first time a new method of capturing space junk with magnets. In recent years, as the frequency of space launches has increased dramatically, the possibility of catastrophic collisions above the earth has also increased. Now, Japanese track cleaning company Astroscale is testing a potential solution.
The company’s “astronomical end-of-life service” demonstration mission is scheduled to take off on a Russian Soyuz rocket on March 20. It consists of two spacecraft: a small “customer” satellite and a larger “service” or “chaser” satellite. Smaller satellites are equipped with a magnetic plate that allows chasers to dock with it.
Two stacked spacecraft will perform three tests in orbit at a time, and each test will involve the release of a service satellite and then reacquisition of the customer satellite. The first test will be the simplest, the customer satellite drifts a short distance and then is reacquired. In the second test, the serving satellite sets the customer satellite to roll, and then chases and matches its motion to catch it.
Finally, if these two tests go smoothly, the chaser will get what they want, by letting the customer satellite float a few hundred meters away and then find and attach it. Once started, all these tests will be executed automatically, almost no manual input is required.
“These demonstrations have never been carried out in space. They are completely different from the astronauts controlling the robotic arms on the International Space Station, for example,” said Jason Forshaw of the British Astronomical Scale. “This is more of an autonomous mission.” At the end of the test, both spacecraft will burn in the Earth’s atmosphere.
If the company wants to use this feature, the magnetic plate must be fixed to its satellite for later capture. Due to increasing space debris issues, many countries now require companies to have a way to return their satellites after they run out of fuel or malfunction, so this may be a fairly simple contingency plan, Forshaw said. Currently, each chaser can only get one satellite, but Astroscale is developing a version that can be dragged out of three to four orbits at a time.