Cleaning Up Space

Ever since humans started sending satellites into space we've always neglected one very big issue - what happens when these man-made objects reach the end of their useful life? Some of the satellites will fall out of orbit, but many have remained in space for decades with no clear strategy of what to do with them. But as humans look to explore commercial space flight and populate other planets there's a growing concern that all of this space junk could pose a very real threat to our future space endeavours. So how do we actually go about cleaning up space?Our guests in this episode:Francois Rigaut and James Gilbert from the Australian National University.Chris Blackerby from Astroscale.Mike Wall from Space.com. Check out his book: Out There - a Scientific guide to Alien Life, Antimatter, and Human Space Travel.Loren Grush from The Verge. Loren has a great video series called Spacecraft available at TheVerge.com.Check out the Darknet Diaries podcast to hear stories about hackers and those that have been hacked. For more information visit darknetdiaries.com.If you love Moonshot then the best way to help us is to share this episode with a friend, or if you're able, consider supporting us financially on Patreon. All supporters get an ad-free feed, along with bonus episodes, and merch. Visit https://www.patreon.com/moonshot.