Swiss Space Clean Up Starts; New Connection For Tram 8; Basel Biozentrum Saga Continues

News For 10 December 2019

Ever since the world’s first satellite was launched in 1957, all kinds of debris have accumulated in space, creating a risk to spaceflight. In addition to the 2,000 working satellites orbiting our planet, there are over 3,000 abandoned ones. However, there is hope for a solution. A Swiss start-up called CleanSpace has been selected to lead a major European Space Agency (ESA) space clean-up mission with a total budget topping CHF110 million. CleanSpace, which is a spin-off of Space Center (eSpace) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), has found a way of capturing and eliminating debris accumulated over six decades of low-orbit activities. The start-up and its consortium were chosen to develop and fly the first-ever mission to capture and remove a disused ESA asset floating in space. Work begins early next year with the goal of deactivating a Vespa adapter, a physical structure used to connect the spacecraft to the launch vehicle, in 2025.

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As part of the tram reconstruction effort at the SBB, the government of Basel is applying for a federal grant to move the tram stop for the number 8 line to the far side of the tram plaza.  The 2.2 million budget project should help relieve pedestrian traffic in the most congested part of the city tram system.  Approximately 22 million customers use the tram stop at the SBB per year and the project is expected to be completed by 2022.

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On Tuesday, the government announced that the Basel BioZentrum will be handed over to the University in late 2020.  As you may recall, the building was supposed to be completed by late 2017, and a significantly lower budget than what the final tally will be once the building is completed.  Delays have plagued the construction site since the very outset of the project.  Initially, neighbors managed to hold up the project while objecting to the plans, and last year, subcontractors were replaced as they failed to deliver on time.