A Texas-based firm is advancing a “satellite sweeper” capable of chasing and deorbiting aging spacecraft of different sizes across three orbital zones.
Firefly Aerospace’s Elytra is positioned as a cost-conscious answer to the Pentagon’s growing orbital debris problem, where defunct spacecraft and other objects can threaten critical space infrastructure.
The spacecraft can rendezvous with a target in orbit, inspect it, and then use its thrusters to push the spacecraft into Earth’s atmosphere, where it can burn up during reentry.
Read the full story on NextGen Defense: The Pentagon is Getting a ‘Satellite Sweeper’ That Can Roam Three Orbits