Iodine thruster could slow space junk accumulation

Iodine thruster used to change the orbit of a small satellite for the first time ever

For the first time ever, a telecommunications satellite has used an iodine propellant to change its orbit around Earth.

The small but potentially disruptive innovation could help to clear the skies of space junk, by enabling tiny satellites to self-destruct cheaply and easily at the end of their missions, by steering themselves into the atmosphere where they would burn up.

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Space, astronomy and science