Greetings guys. Welcome to the concluding part of this article — *The Problems of "space junk in the celestial orbits & How to solve them*. The [Part 1](https://steemit.com/steemstem/@sciencetech/the-problems-of-space-junk-in-the-celestial-orbits-and-how-to-solve-them-part-1-1b1860acfb53d) robustly discussed the scale of the problem, and how they are going to disrupt smooth operations of such important services as global telephone connections, television signal transmission, global position systems, weather forecasts, military/defense activities, space missions, amongst others, if the problems are allowed to degenerate to such an extent that it becomes impossible for orbiting satellites, spacecrafts and International Space Station (ISS) to move around the orbits freely without collision. Neither would scientists be able to embark on missions to Mars, Moon, etc, with a major implication that we all will literally be confined on this Earth. Will the world as technologically advanced as it is today be able to survive such a scenario? I doubt. And you; what do you think? <sub>*Use the comment button to relay your opinions, many thanks*</sub>. 

![space-junk-11644_12801.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmUpXkCV8Tro3QSho5uagwLkzdwWh5QTurSqHWghVbpP1X/space-junk-11644_12801.jpg)
[Pixabay CC0 image](https://pixabay.com/en/space-junk-space-debris-orbits-11644/) 

For those of my reading audience who missed the Part 1, I think it is important for you to revisit that page to get the full gist of the article. Once again, you can click [here](https://steemit.com/steemstem/@sciencetech/the-problems-of-space-junk-in-the-celestial-orbits-and-how-to-solve-them-part-1-1b1860acfb53d) to read it. Having said that, this Part 2 focuses on discussing the solutions being proposed and explored to tackle the menace of space junk in particularly the low Earth orbit (LEO), where, according to experts, is where the major problem is. LEO lies basically between about 435 miles (700 kilometers and about 745 miles (1,200 kilometers). The space junk problem is international in scope. It is there and getting worse everyday with the launching of new satellites and space stations. And not it's not going to get any better unless practical steps are taken to get rid of millions of these debris in the Earth's orbits. The question is and always remains: how does the world go about this? 

Ideally, it is generally accepted that the best method to keep the orbits free of orbital debris is to make sure when a spacecraft is taken up into the space, the craft should have a *controllable* way to fall back again to the Earth's atmosphere so that it's small pieces are destroyed on impact and burnt away during re-entry while larger pieces that may make it down to the surface are remote-controlled to crash safely in the middle of the pacific ocean since there is no dense population there. But then there is concern that if a craft falls back to the atmosphere when it's 100% dead and its buck manages to get to the surface and it is uncontrollable; no one will have a say as to where it would fall. So, it may end up falling upon a densely populated city.  

The standard way to prevent a scenario such as the above is to use rocket and slow the craft down, but there have been suggestions to do this, instead, with a solar sail contraption. The idea is to build this into the craft with a mechanism that would enable it to be detached from the craft towards the end of the craft's life, and help slow it down, forcing it to fall back to Earth more quickly. 

![800px-Space_Shuttle_Discovery_(STS-114_'Return_to_Flight')_approaches_the_International_Space_Station.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmeyUdt7N6k7ijUZtZsPdvUfN9TNbU2aaM739ANu76J8a5/800px-Space_Shuttle_Discovery_(STS-114_'Return_to_Flight')_approaches_the_International_Space_Station.jpg)
[*A space  shuttle*. Source: [Wikimedia commons](https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Space_Shuttle_Discovery_(STS-114_%27Return_to_Flight%27)_approaches_the_International_Space_Station.jpg). Author: NASA. Public domain image]        

But the above method is only effective to spacecrafts that have not been launched into the space or have been launched but are still intact when they are guided to fall back to the atmosphere. What happens to millions of debris from derelict satellites, shards of crafts, shrapnel and other leftovers that are said to be there already, swirling around the orbits at dangerously high speed? How can all these be swept away from the orbitals? In response to this unfortunate situation, many countries and private companies have come up with a number of solutions to address the problem. While some of these solutions have failed during testing phase, some have not only failed but have created more problem by adding thousand more pieces to the pool of space junk. 

Notable among responses that have resulted in a failure is the Japanese space agency's ([JAXA](http://global.jaxa.jp)) highly publicized [Electrodynamic tether](http://www.kenkai.jaxa.jp/eng/research/kite/kite.html) project, has since been [reported](http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/01/31/national/space-cargo-ship-experiment-clean-debris-hits-snag/#.WJDt5hsrI3s) to have failed. In 2007, Chinese military successfully [destroyed one of their dead weather satellites](https://www.google.com.ng/amp/s/amp.space.com/3415-china-anti-satellite-test-worrisome-debris-cloud-circles-earth.html) in an exercise meant to test their anti-satellite technology. It said this mission created more than 2000 new debris and increased the space junk tally by 25% as of that time. Till today, this is regarded as the worst way to clean up dead satellites.

[E.DeOrbit](http://m.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/Clean_Space/e.Deorbit) is an active space debris removal project funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) which, when launched, will seek out ESA-owned derelict satellites in the orbits from 800 to 1000 kilometers (500 to 620 miles), capture and de-orbit them to be burned up during atmospheric re-entry. Several capture techniques such as nets, harpoon, robotic arms and tentacles are already being tested with the successful deployment of [RemoveDebris spacecraft](https://amp.space.com/40221-space-junk-debris-sweeper-experiment.html) from the ISS in June, 2018, in preparation for the main mission which is projected to be fully launched by 2023.

![800px-Cleanspace_One_chasser.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmWveu89QbpxsynSpsUDra35oD9r9piLV2ZeqF8cT614GZ/800px-Cleanspace_One_chasser.jpg)
[*Illustration of CleanSpace One debris capture mechanism*. Source: [Wikimedia commons](https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cleanspace_One_chasser.jpg). Author: Lucpiguet. [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en) licensed]         

The Swiss' [CleanSpace One project](https://amp.space.com/14584-space-junk-janitor-satellite-cleanspaceone-swiss.html) is another effort to clean orbital debris from low earth orbit. It is a test satellite built by the collaborative effort of Swiss Space Center and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne which 
would use a sort of giant space claw to locate and capture dead satellites and then through them into the atmosphere to be burned up upon impact. Barring any unforseen circumstances, it is set to be [launched this year](https://www.space.com/23049-space-junk-satellite-swiss-space-plane.html) using the European Suborbital Reusable Shuttle. 

Other the above described methods, there are several other approaches being pursued by space agencies of many countries including NASA, which we cannot adequately cover in this article. You can go [here](https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/gmp1928/sequester-space-junk/)       and [here](https://amp.space.com/24895-space-junk-wild-clean-up-concepts.html) to get the full details of these other technologies. 

In conclusion, it is obvious that problem of space junk is international in scope. It's not a one-nation problem because every country, directly or indirectly, is dependent on the activities of satellites orbiting the earth in the outer space for some vital services some of which have been noted previously. To this much, scientists have agreed. All that is required now is internationally coordinated, concerted effort to squarely address it. To this end, the various projects being currently pursued and tested are right steps being taken in the right direction. However, the present legal issues against de-orbiting of a satellite, even when dead, owned by a third party from another country has to be reviewed by an internationally constituted body if the current efforts are to make any positive impact. This is because, like ocean, space is an international commons; it has no boundaries, and so a problem for one country is a problem for all. You cannot prevent a dead satellite from one country from colliding with a dead or active satellite owned by another country. Thanks for reading. 

### **References**
* <sub>[**E.DeOrbit**](http://m.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/Clean_Space/e.Deorbit)</sub>
* <sub>[**1st satellite built to harpoon space junk for disposal begin test flight**](https://www.google.com.ng/amp/s/amp.space.com/40960-removedebris-space-junk-cleanup-test-flight.html)</sub>
* <sub>[**6 ways to solve our dangerous space junk problems**](https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/gmp1928/sequester-space-junk/)</sub>
* <sub>[**Space junk cleanup satellite launching on Swiss space plane in 2018**](https://www.google.com.ng/amp/s/amp.space.com/23049-space-junk-satellite-swiss-space-plane.html)</sub>
* <sub>[**Space junk cleanup: 7 wild ways to destroy orbital debris**](https://amp.space.com/24895-space-junk-wild-clean-up-concepts.html)</sub>
* <sub>[**How do we cleanup all that space debris?**](https://www.google.com.ng/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/jillianscudder/2016/01/06/astroquizzical-space-debris/amp/)</sub>
* <sub>[**Space junk menace: How to deal with orbital debris**](https://amp.space.com/19445-space-junk-threat-orbital-debris-cleanup.html)</sub>

Truly yours, 
@sciencetech 
STEM Contributor