Watchmaker OMEGA partners with ClearSpace to remove space debris under ESA-funded mission

The European Space Agency (ESA), on January 13, announced that Swiss watchmaking company OMEGA has been selected as a partner for the Clearspace-1 mission which aims to remove space debris from Earth’s orbit. Commissioned by ESA, the mission is being led by ClearSpace and has Omega as its first partner for the debris removal project. 

Luc Piguet, CEO and co-founder of ClearSpace said in the company’s official release:

OMEGA has participated in the most innovative space exploration missions of the past 60 years. We are delighted to welcome such a large-scale partner. 

Adding that avoidance of space debris proliferation and space collisions are a priority, Piguet said that over 30,000 satellites are expected to be launched by 2030, which makes the success of this project extremely important. 

What is the ClearSpace-1 mission?

Scheduled for a full-fledged launch in 2025, the mission aims to remove a piece of debris left behind by the European Vega rocket in 2013. Under this mission, the mission controller will employ a four-armed pincer mechanism, as shown in the image above, to grab the 112-kg target-- the Vega payload adapter, called ‘Vespa’, which is about the size of a small car and is spinning uncontrollably in the Earth’s orbit. 

The spacecraft will first capture the target and conduct a controlled deorbiting manoeuvre wherein both the spacecraft and Vespa would re-enter Earth and burn up during re-entry. According to ClearSpace, the total cost of the mission has been estimated at $126 million out of which $98 million will be invested by ESA. 

Luisa Innocenti, head of the Clean Space Office at ESA said as per ClearSpace's statement, "I am delighted to see yet another partner supporting the ClearSpace-1 mission. This reconfirms the strong value of developing technology to clean up the orbital environment and helps put European industry in the global lead". 

By the time this mission is launched, it will be 68 years since the first satellite 'Sputnik' was launched by the Soviet Union in 1957. According to estimates, over 12,000 satellites would have been launched by 2025 adding to an already crowded low-Earth orbit (LEO). The ESA had earlier revealed that there currently are over 36,000 debris objects larger than 10 cm circling the Earth which are dangerous enough to damage or destroy a functioning satellite.

(Image: @ESA/Twitter)