‘Pac-Man’ satellite gobbles up space garbage | Science/AAAS

But what it Clean Space One does do is clean up the mess created by the Swiss EPFL Center for Space Engineering’s own satellites.

The sheer volume of space junk around our planet – including such man-made objects as broken down satellites and spent rocket stages, is growing “at an alarming rate“, EPFL scientists said in a statement Monday.

Since it would be difficult to locate these small satellites EPFL researchers are developing a HDR camera and image processing system which can identify bright reflections off of SwissCubes to locate their position and ready the net to capture them. When they’re together, both satellites will dive into the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up.

The team has finalised critical decisions associated with the development of the approach and capture systems. “These variations can perturb the visual approach system and thus also the estimates of its speed and distance“. After exploring possible ways to remedy the problem, EPFL has devised its “Pac-Man” solution.

As the researchers explain in a news release, the design they’ve agreed to is, more or less, “a giant Pac-Man”. “This system is more reliable and offers a larger margin for maneuvering than a claw or an articulated hand”, says Michel Lauria, professor of industrial technology at HEPIA.

The Pac-Man satellite will have a cone shaped net which will unfold when need and then close up when it’s not. The university recently released an update on their plans, including their projected launch date of 2018.

CleanSpace One could be launched as early as 2018 in collaboration with the company S3, headquartered in Payerne.

In the coming days, the team will evaluate the first version of the engineering models.