Space debris: ‘We need to clean it up or risk satellites’

There are more than 9,000 tonnes of space debris orbiting the Earth, according to the European Space Agency, but now Astroscale has plans to help clean up some of it.

“The orbital environment is like a natural resource - and if we don’t clean it up, then we are polluting something that we benefit from all the time,” the company’s chief operating officer, Chris Blackerby, told BBC World News, adding it could risk the satellites we rely on.

There were so many pieces of space debris the International Space Station and other active satellites had to move out of their way, Mr Blackerby said.