After nearly 70 years of space exploration, Earth is now surrounded by space junk. Recently, an accident made the cleanup more difficult to start. According to the European Space Agency (ESA), scientists plan on testing their “junk truck”, ClearSpace-1, in 2026. It’s a spacecraft with four arms that can catch debris (碎片) and bring it back to Earth. They have chosen to bring back VESPA, a 113-kilogram, two-meter-wide rocket part.
However, in August, it was hit by another piece of space junk, creating new pieces. The ESA is now revising its cleanup plan. “We must reduce the creation of new space debris and begin to actively reduce the impact of existing objects,” said the agency.
Most satellites (卫星) today are sent into Earth’s low orbit (离地表较近的轨道), which reaches up to around 2,000 kilometers above the Earth. There, spacecraft are most likely to crash with each other. There may be as many as 170 million pieces of space junk in orbit, according to the ESA. Big or small, any of the pieces can cause harm to a spacecraft. For example, if an object as large as 10 centimeters crashes with a satellite, the satellite will break apart.
In terms of the cleanup, scientists have some other ideas. One popular plan is to send a spacecraft carrying harpoons (鱼叉) and magnets (磁铁). The craft would shoot the harpoon to stick into the debris before “throwing” it back to Earth. Magnets could move the debris, changing its direction. The debris would burn after entering Earth’s atmosphere (大气层) so there wouldn’t be much left when it reaches Earth. Scientists are also considering shooting lasers (激光) from spacecraft to heat up the debris’ surface, creating a small push that would alter the debris’ orbit. This change would allow the debris to be captured by Earth’s gravity (重力).
【小题1】What is the main goal of the ClearSpace-1 spacecraft?| A．To bring VESPA back to Earth. | B．To monitor space debris. |
| C．To study the effects of space junk. | D．To remove space debris from Earth’s orbit. |
| A．They discovered larger space debris. | B．They faced technical challenges. |
| C．There was a problem with their original goal. | D．There are too many spacecraft in Earth’s low orbit. |
| A．10 million. | B．113 million. | C．170 million. | D．2 billion. |
| A．Capturing debris with magnets. |
| B．Shooting lasers to burn debris. |
| C．Pushing debris away from Earth with new spacecraft. |
| D．Sending a spacecraft with harpoons and magnets. |
