Outer space is becoming greener. SpaceX’s new rocket can clean space junk. 

     Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla motors, claims he can make outer space greener like he made the car industry greener. 

      According to GreenMatters.com the starship can clean up space by collecting space junk also known as space debris. Musk says he hopes one day this starship will be able to transport humans to Mars.

    “We can fly Starship around space and chomp up debris with the moving fairing door,” Musk says. The SpaceX starship’s user guide explains that the Starship’s clamshell fairing door can open in outer space, deploy a payload and then close before the Starship returns to Earth. 

     According to GreenMatters.com the starship has the capability of taking cargo and crew at the same time. SpaceX has made efforts to reduce its contributions to the space debris situation. 

     Junior Ava Grabowski has been following along with this process. She thinks it is a great idea and it won’t be easy to accomplish. “It would be crazy if it could actually take humans to Mars,” Grabowski states. 

     Science teacher Mr. Douglas Heeter states he thinks the idea is very intriguing. “There is a lot of space junk out there and it is neat to think about a mission to work on clean up,” he says. 

     Heeter states it seems like it would be an easy mission but that there are probably a lot of complexities involved. “If there weren’t complexities, why would it not have been done before,” he says. 

     Heeter states that humans have been putting things into space
for almost 65 years which causes a lot of debris to be left behind from rocket launches. “It is kind of fascinating that they actually keep track of it all too,” Heeter says. He explains NASA and the Department of Defense have over 27,000 pieces of junk that they have tracked. 

     Heeter explains alleviating any debris present will increase the safety of missions and will also keep the orbital areas clear. “It is kind of like trash cleanup here along the roadside,” he says. The teacher explains just like trash cleanup helps the environment, space cleanup helps the low earth orbit areas around our planet too. “So much material was simply left behind by design with little concern on potential future impacts,” he says.

     Heeter thinks that this mission could serve as a stepping stone to future missions. “Meeting such an endeavor with success can set the stage for other missions and programs as we advance our studies and exploration beyond the Earth,” he says.