ClearSpace-1

ESA's 95 kg PROBA-1 satellite, launched in 2001, will be cleared away from its valuable low-Earth orbit to ensure it does not add to the space debris problem. The ClearSpace-1 mission will remove the PROBA-1 satellite from orbit as the first-ever mission to remove an unprepared and uncooperative object from orbit through highly precise, complex, close proximity operations, all in the name of cleaning up space. While the mission was dreamt up by the ESA Clean Space team, the Agency is developing the mission as in in-orbit demonstration with OHB SE leading an industrial team with the Swiss company ClearSpace and other sub-contractors. The mission will demonstrate the technologies needed for active debris removal and as a first step to establishing a new and sustainable commercial sector in space.