The UK arm of Elecnor DEIMOS will play a leading role in the Clearspace-1 mission, which is intended to help tackle space debris.

Clearspace-1 mission to claw at space debris
Planned for 2025, the Clearspace-1 satellite will use a pincer motion to collect its targeted object, before giving it a controlled re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. And Elecnor DEIMOS will design the Attitude and Orbit Control System (AOCS). This will orientate and position the satellite to help grab the space junk, using power generators, thrusters and antennas.
“Clearspace-1 is the confirmation of our role as a key Guidance, Navigation and Control systems provider in Europe,” said Ismael López, the CEO of Elecnor DEIMOS Group.
“This is a very innovative mission and we are thrilled that the expertise and capacity across our companies match the technology challenges required.”
After the Clearspace mission concept was approved by the European Space Agency a year ago, ClearSpace – a Swiss start-up with expertise in robotics – began co-ordinating the mission. It brought together a consortium of expertise, including Elecnor DEIMOS in the UK, highlights the UK Space Agency.
The Attitude and Control system of Elecnor DEIMOS UK will be integrated in the overall satellite ‘autopilot’. The Guidance, Navigation and Control system is being developed by Elecnor DEIMOS in Portugal, together with other German and Portuguese entities. This consortium will also perform tests to support ClearSpace in the assembly, testing and operation of the mission.

“For fourteen billion years – between the Big Bang and the autumn of 1957 – space was pristine,” said Dr Graham Turnock, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency. But since that autumn we have placed nearly 10,000 satellites into the sky, the vast majority of which are now defunct or destroyed.
“The UK is going to lead the way in tracking in tracking and removing this hazardous debris, and I am delighted that technology supporting this pioneering ambition is going to be made in Britain. In 2018, 300km above the Earth, a British satellite – run by removeDEBRIS – successfully deployed a net in orbit to demonstrate how to capture space debris. The demonstration, using a small object sent out by the satellite, formed part of a mission to test techniques to clear up space junk.”