There are several news stories about the new space probe being developed by the Swiss. The
CleanSpace One is supposed to be approximately the size of a shoe box, and capable of latching on to any old satellites or pieces of satellites and bringing it to a relative stop to earth, causing it to fall back to the surface in such a way that the
CleanSpace One will burn up with whatever space-junk it has latched onto. This could be quite useful. Due to information given by NASA scientist, Donald Kessler, who stated that the density of objects orbiting the planet could greatly increase in a short period of time. The density could become such that space exploration could become temporarily impossible, or at the very least far more unfeasible for many generations.
This appears to be the opinion that most stories written about these unmanned vessels, that they will work, and are not a waste of resources. This is stated in one article when it states that:
One of the most attractive aspects of the "CleanSpace One" project is
that it will reportedly be downright cheap. Initial estimates put the
costs for both its production and launch at 10 million Swiss francs
(€8.3 million/$10.8 million).
This states that the author believes that unnecessary resources will not be wasted on this project, and that the cost will be downright cheap as far as budgets for space programs go. In addition, one statement that is often said is generally something along the lines of "Is there any surprise that the first people to clean up space may be the Swiss?" This is referring to the waste management systems and the "green" energy practices used by the Swiss Confederation. It seems to be that people expect that the Swiss Confederation to continue with a waste disposal program that is apparently significantly better than many other countries.
