As part of ESA's Clean Space Initiative and Active Debris Removal/ In-Orbit Servicing project (ADRIOS), the space agency will provide essential technologies, including advanced guidance, the robotic arms, navigation, control systems and vision-based AI, which will allow ClearSpace-1 to grapple its target autonomously. In addition to the contract with ESA, ClearSpace will rely on commercial investors to cover mission costs. The space agency says that this new way of business is the first step in establishing a new commercial sector in space, according to the statement. This is the first time ESA has paid for a service contract such as this instead of directly procuring and running the entire mission. Our goal is to build affordable and sustainable in-orbit services." "Our 'tow truck' design will be available to clear key orbits of debris that might otherwise make them unusable for future missions, eliminating the growing risks and liabilities for their owners, and benefitting the space industry as a whole. "At orbital velocities, even a screw can hit with explosive force, which cannot be shielded against by mission designers instead the threat needs to be managed through the active removal of debris items," Luc Piguet, founder and CEO of ClearSpace, said in the statement. These pieces of space junk move at tens of thousands of miles per hour and could collide with and cause damage to active satellites and spacecraft in their path. Low Earth orbit is cluttered with debris, ranging from inactive satellites to the upper stages of launch vehicles and discarded bits left over from separation. "With overall satellite numbers set to grow rapidly in the coming decade, regular removals are becoming essential to keep debris levels under control, to prevent a cascade of collisions that threaten to make the debris problem much worse." "This first capture and disposal of an uncooperative space object represents an extremely challenging achievement," Wörner said in the statement.