Here's How to Destroy a Satellite

Satellites generally have lifespans of eight

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years, so destruction is a fairly common occurrence. There are three concepts regarding satellite destruction, two are in use these days and a third is being prepared for greater efficiency. Destruction through missile launches is intensely complex and expensive, waiting for accidents or technical mistakes is inefficient and even dangerous, considering there's no real way to control where satellites could fall.

That's why the Swiss EPFL Center is developing the Clean Space One, which hypothetically could gobble down satellites like a Pac-Man. While it's currently being targeted toward tiny Swiss CubeSats, there's no reason why the technology couldn't scale up to help bring down space junk.

An increasing problem to match our desires to go into space more frequently, satellite destruction will likely become a larger part of space programs worldwide. Japan recently failed in an attempt to clean up things, but this problem isn't going away any time soon.