ClearSpace UK

The London-based UK team of ClearSpace, a Swiss-founded company that works on removing space debris and servicing satellites in orbit.

About ClearSpace UK

ClearSpace describes itself as a leading in-orbit servicing company. It works on bringing maintenance and services to orbit, with technology for disposing of satellites, inspecting them and extending their lives. Its projects include ClearSpace-1, which was planned as Europe's first active debris-removal mission, Phoenix, a life-extension mission, and PRELUDE. ClearSpace UK leads a project called CLEAR, short for Clearing the LEO Environment with Active Removal, which is the UK's first national mission to remove debris from low Earth orbit.

The company was founded in Switzerland in 2018 and is headquartered in Luxembourg, with teams in Switzerland, the UK, Germany and Luxembourg. In its own words it wants to enable a circular space economy, in which things sent to orbit are maintained, reused and brought home safely instead of being left as junk. Rory Holmes, the UK managing director, has said CLEAR is more than a debris-removal project and is a step towards UK-led in-orbit servicing. The UK Space Agency's Ray Fielding called the second phase of work a significant milestone for the national programme.

ClearSpace UK is based in London. A May 2025 press release, datelined London, says the company has grown its London presence over three years, built a UK team and created local jobs. A 2022 UK government announcement named ClearSpace UK in London, and Astroscale at Harwell, as the two companies chosen to design missions to remove old satellites. ClearSpace says it worked with nine UK space companies on CLEAR. Partners named in 2025 were Critical Software, Indra-Deimos, Plextek, which works on the rendezvous radar, and Spirit AeroSystems. A later item on the same ClearSpace page, dated October 2026, says the UK Space Agency chose it as prime contractor to deliver the national mission, which will remove two UK-registered satellites. We have not checked that item against another source.

ClearSpace's pages do not describe the working culture at length, so we have not invented one. What the CLEAR work shows is a team that sits between customers, government and a chain of UK suppliers: it tested a robotic capture system against the shock of launch, tried image-processing software that spots and tracks debris, and tried the close-approach stages on a spacecraft emulator, all with partners. The company is also part of the Rendezvous and Proximity Operations Sandbox consortium, which works on how such activities should be regulated.

Roles at a company like this include systems and mission engineers, robotics and guidance specialists, software engineers, programme and project managers, and policy and communications people who work with regulators and the public. Physics, engineering, computing and maths are common routes, as are international relations and law for the policy side. Check the ClearSpace website for current UK vacancies.

What they do

• {'desc': "Leading the UK Space Agency's first national mission to remove debris from low Earth orbit.", 'title': 'CLEAR national debris-removal mission'}
• {'desc': 'Developing the capture system and navigation software needed to meet and grab objects in orbit.', 'title': 'Robotic capture and rendezvous'}
• {'desc': 'Missions such as Phoenix that keep satellites working longer.', 'title': 'Life-extension and inspection services'}

Key facts

• Founded in Switzerland in 2018; headquartered in Luxembourg; teams in Switzerland, the UK, Germany and Luxembourg
• UK team based in London, led by managing director Rory Holmes
• Worked with nine UK space companies on the CLEAR design phase
• Phase 2 of CLEAR completed in May 2025

Website: clearspace.today