Catcher's Mitt is the name of a study being conducted (as of December 2009) by the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to "better understand the issues and challenges involved with removing man-made debris

Space debris

Space debris, also known as orbital debris, space junk, and space waste, is the collection of objects in orbit around Earth that were created by humans but no longer serve any useful purpose. These objects consist of everything from spent rocket stages and defunct satellites to erosion, explosion...

 from earth orbit." DARPA's goal is to use the study to determine both if DARPA should invest more resources in orbital debris removal and, if so, how to best do so.

History

The study will consist of three primary aspects; an open Request for Information (RFI), an International Conference, and a series of utility studies conducted by DARPA, NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

, and the United States Air Force

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

. As of December 2009, only information about the first two aspects had been announced.

Request for Information

On 17 September 2009, DARPA released a public Request for Information (RFI) through the Federal Business Opportunities website. The RFI called for possible technical approaches to removing a wide range of low Earth Orbit

Low Earth orbit

A low Earth orbit is generally defined as an orbit within the locus extending from the Earth’s surface up to an altitude of 2,000 km...

 (LEO) and Geosynchronous Earth Orbit

Geostationary orbit

A geostationary orbit is a geosynchronous orbit directly above the Earth's equator , with a period equal to the Earth's rotational period and an orbital eccentricity of approximately zero. An object in a geostationary orbit appears motionless, at a fixed position in the sky, to ground observers...

 (GEO) debris. The request looked for system level concepts that addressed several issues, including "Physics-based approaches to debris removal as a system level solution", "The response time of the removal concept", and "An estimate of an economic metric (e.g. $/kg removed or $/particle removed)". The solicitation period ended on 30 October 2009, and none of the proposals have been made public as of December 2009. The ASTROS concept was published the following August in Popular Science Magazine. Using Adhesive Synthetic Trash Recovery Orbital Spheres, presented at the conference by Sean Shepherd.

International Conference on Orbital Debris Removal

DARPA and NASA hosted the International Conference on Orbital Debris Removal December 8-10 2009 near DARPA headquarters in Chantilly, Virginia

Chantilly, Virginia

Chantilly is an unincorporated community located in western Fairfax County and southeastern Loudoun County of Northern Virginia. Recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census designated place , the community population was 23,039 as of the 2010 census -- down from 41,041 in 2000, due to the...

. Topics discussed at the conference ranged from tracking and predicting orbital debris to exotic removal techniques such as using tethers or solar sails to move debris to less populated orbits. The keynote speakers included both NASA and European Space Agency

European Space Agency

The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...

(ESA) program heads. While the conference addressed technical issues (what the earlier RFI focused on), the conference also considered wider concerns, like economic and legal issues.