The latest space mining startup from China released a robot prototype capable of collecting space junk and debris left by previous spacecrafts via a net and released into low-Earth orbit to do so.
![](https://wonderfulengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/space-junk-robot-2.jpg)
This is the most recent attempt by China to increase its efforts to minimize the gap between itself in comparison to Russian and the U.S. and be a contender to be a big space power.
Collecting junk in low-Earth orbit
Named the NEO-01, it will also venture into deep space to catch a glimpse of tiny celestial bodies. It was released on 6th March with multiple satellites based on the news by a state-run Xinhua agency. The startup Origin Space, located in Shenzhen, created this 30kg (66lbs) robot. It plans to create a new path of technology possibility able to mine elements on asteroids.
![](https://wonderfulengineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/space-junk-robot-1.jpg)
The first asteroid mining Planetary Resources company came into being in 2009-since. Multiple companies have initiated their work in the space-junk cleaning industry, namely Astroscale by Japan and 3D Systems by the USA, to name a few. Astroscale uses magnets to collect space junk, but NEO-01 will utilize a seemingly simple-sounding net to collect junk and burn the debris using an electric propulsion system, based on a Channel News Asia report.
From the late 1950s, countless satellites have been released into low-Earth orbit. But as time passes, they age and become defunct, resulting in becoming part of a very threatening bulk of space debris that can harm or ruin current operating satellites or crewed missions. Origin Space plans to release many space telescopes and spacecrafts-to manage the pioneer commercial mining operation on asteroids till the year 2045, based on a 26th April interview by U.S. media with the company’s founder, Su Meng.