Space Regulatory Glossary Industry

active debris removal

noun

1. The use of dedicated spacecraft to physically capture and deorbit existing orbital debris — as opposed to mitigation measures that prevent new debris from being created.
2. An emerging commercial sector with companies like Astroscale, ClearSpace, and others developing technologies including robotic arms, harpoons, nets, and magnetic capture. ESA's ClearSpace-1 and JAXA's ADRAS-J represent early government-backed demonstration missions.

Read: The FCC 5-Year Deorbit Rule

Related terms

orbital debris Non-functional human-made objects in Earth orbit, including defunct satellites, spent rocket stages, fragmentation… Kessler syndrome A theoretical scenario in which the density of objects in low Earth orbit reaches a tipping point where collisions… deorbit The deliberate removal of a spacecraft from its operational orbit, typically through controlled reentry into Earth's…

Browse all terms in the Space Regulatory Glossary →