Removing Space Debris with Gecko Technology - Successful Tests Onboard the ISS

Thousands of tons of space debris are currently orbiting the Earth, and the number is growing. Most of it is the remnants of completed space missions or decommissioned satellites. The dangerous thing about it is that even centimeter-sized pieces can cause immense damage in a collision with active satellites, spacecraft, and space stations. Researchers at the Technical University of Braunschweig, in cooperation with the Leibniz Institute for New Materials (INM) in Saarbrucken, have developed a mechanism for "capturing" space debris. This has now been successfully tested under space conditions onboard the International Space Station (ISS).