Elon Musk says upcoming SpaceX Starship can ‘fly around space and chomp up debris’

Andrew Griffin
Monday 05 July 2021 15:12 BST
Comments
(Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)
Leer en Español

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Elon Musk says SpaceX can fly around space and “chomp up debris” with its upcoming Starship craft.

Starship is central to many of SpaceX’s aims, and continues to be under development. It hopes to eventually use it to carry people to space, the Moon and further, and it has conducted a number of often spectacular tests.

But it comes at the same time as SpaceX and other companies face criticism over their contribution to “space debris”, which can block out the view of the sky and poses a threat as it fills up the sky. Numerous experts have warned that the growing number of satellites and other materials above the Earth could possibly cause a disastrous collision.

Its Starlink space internet satellites, for instance, have faced both criticism and risk from the increasing number of satellites they share the sky with. They have been attacked by astronomers who argue that they are crowding out the view of the sky, and have been forced to change orbit to avoid the risk of collisions.

But Mr Musk has said on Twitter that the company could also help fix that problem, using its Starship to pick up that litter from the sky.

Asked on Twitter about whether SpaceX had “thought of any way to try to eventually collect Space debris” by a user who noted that “it could directly affect its business in the future if it gets out of control”, Mr Musk laid out the plan to use Starship.

“Yes, we can fly Starship around space & chomp up debris with the moving fairing door,” he wrote on Twitter.

The fairing door is the large cover that will go over any cargo that Starship is carrying to space, open to let it out when it reaches the required orbit, and then close again ahead of the spacecraft’s journey back down to Earth.

The conversation came in reply to a tweet Mr Musk had posted about a new part of the Starlink product, which shows the journey to Mars.

Mr Musk gave no further information on the plan to use Starship to catch space junk, including whether SpaceX was actively working on such a solution.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in