ClearSpace, founded in 2018, is an in-orbit servicing company focused on developing technologies for space debris removal and sustainable space operations. They are building capabilities for a range of in-orbit services, including debris disposal, satellite life extension, in-orbit transport, inspection, repair, and recycling. ClearSpace's major partners and customers include the European Space Agency (ESA) and the UK Space Agency, with whom they are working on active debris removal missions like ClearSpace-1 and CLEAR. Associated keywords: space debris removal, in-orbit servicing, active debris removal (ADR), space sustainability, robotics, ESA, UK Space Agency.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
ClearSpace aims to launch its debris-removal spacecraft in late 2024 or early 2025.
ESA funding for ClearSpace-1 requires the mission to launch on a European rocket.
Under ESA’s Clean Space initiative, the agency will develop guidance, navigation and control technologies plus rendezvous and debris-capture methods to be applied to the ClearSpace-1 mission.
ESA’s 22 member states will discuss funding the remainder of the ClearSpace-1 mission in 2022 through the agency’s ministerial budget process.
ClearSpace spun out of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) university in 2017 after working since 2012 on an academic mission to deorbit SwissCube.
ClearSpace will lead a consortium of European companies to build a spacecraft equipped with four robotic arms to capture debris and drag it into Earth’s atmosphere.
ClearSpace-1 is slated to launch in 2025 to capture and deorbit a 100-kilogram Vespa payload adapter left in orbit by an Arianespace Vega after deploying ESA’s Proba-V satellite.
The European Space Agency signed a debris-removal contract with Swiss startup ClearSpace to deorbit a substantial piece of a Vega rocket that was left in orbit in 2013.
ESA estimates the total ClearSpace-1 mission will cost 117,000,000 EUR ($129,000,000) to complete.
ClearSpace was selected by the European Space Agency from about a dozen competitors to retrieve an ESA rocket component as part of the ClearSpace-1 mission.
ClearSpace was established in December 2017 as a spinoff of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).
ClearSpace received a 1.4 million Swiss franc grant from InnoSwiss, the Swiss innovation agency.
ClearSpace receives research and technical support from the EPFL Space Center and is part of the ESA Business Incubation Center in Switzerland.
ClearSpace’s ClearSpace-1 mission is scheduled to launch in 2025 and involves capturing VESPA, a Vega rocket secondary payload adapter, and disposing of it in Earth’s atmosphere.
Both Astroscale and ClearSpace won contracts to participate in the Sunrise Project, a public-private partnership led by OneWeb and the European Space Agency to explore advanced technologies including active debris removal.