STARSET_MirrorEuropean Space Agency Takes Steps to Address Space Debris
ClearSpace-1 is planned for launch in 2025 and will be the first mission to remove an item of space debris from orbit. After a competitive bid process, the European Space Agency has awarded a service contract to a consortium led by the Swiss startup company ClearSpace, which is staffed by space debris experts from the École polytechnique fedérale de Lausanne (EPFL) research institute.
ClearSpace-1计划于2025年发射升空，它将是第一次从轨道上移除空间碎片的任务。经过竞争性的投标过程，欧洲航天局已将一份服务合同授予瑞士初创企业ClearSpace领导的财团，该财团的工作人员是来自洛桑埃科尔理工学院（EPFL）的空间碎片专家。
The service contract model is a different way of working on missions for ESA. Usually the agency takes an active role in defining how a mission works. In this instance, however, it is paying ClearSpace to remove a piece of space junk but not specifying how that should be done. In this way, ESA is hoping to stimulate a commercial market for comparatively low-cost space debris removal.
服务合同模式是欧空局执行任务的另一种方式。通常，该机构在确定任务如何运作方面发挥积极作用。然而，在这个例子中，它向ClearSpace支付资金来移除太空垃圾，但并没有说明应该如何做。通过这种方式，欧空局希望刺激一个成本相对较低的空间碎片清除商业市场。
Read more at The Guardian
翻译：STARSET Mirror翻译组
