'Swachh Space': India's Plan To Clean Up Its Orbital Trash By 2030

India has unveiled an ambitious "Swachh Space" vision that aims to make the country's space activities debris free by 2030. A Hyderabad-based startup has stepped forward to develop technologies that could one day clean up Earth's increasingly crowded orbits.

It is estimated that over 100 million pieces of man-made junk float in space.Announcing the goal of making space debris-free, Union Minister of State for Science Jitendra Singh said on November 5 that India is emerging among the early global pioneers in space debris removal and is advancing capabilities that will help make outer space safer and more sustainable. The vision is part of India's broader 'Debris Free Space Mission', or DFSM, which seeks to ensure that all Indian space actors, both government agencies and private companies, eliminate the creation of new orbital debris by 2030.According to NASA, approximately 50,000 large, trackable objects orbit Earth, along with an estimated 100 million pieces of millimeter-sized orbital debris.