‘Since the start of the space age, we’ve had a throwaway culture – a bit like plastics in the ocean,” said Nick Shave, managing director of Astroscale UK, an in-orbit servicing company head-quartered in Japan.
Getting a satellite into orbit around the Earth used to be a big deal. From the launch of the first, Sputnik, in 1957, as it became easier and cheaper to put satellites into space, the numbers have boomed. In 2022, there were about 6,000 and by 2030, one estimate suggests there will be nearly 60,000 satellites in orbit around our planet.
Look up on a clear night now and you may well see a bright train of dots traversing the sky. These are part of SpaceX’s “megaconstellation” of satellites, Starlink, which offers increased access to…