NASA Gecko Grippers May Snag Space Junk in the Future (VIDEO)

There's been quite a bit of work done on gecko-inspired materials lately--so it shouldn't be all that surprising that NASA is also getting in on the action. NASA scientists are working on adhesive gripping tools inspired by geckos that could potentially grapple objects such as orbital debris or defunct satellites that would otherwise be hard to handle.

In fact, the gecko gripper project was selected for a test flight through the Flight Opportunities program. As a test, researchers used the grippers in brief periods of weightlessness.

"Orbital debris is a serious risk to spacecraft, including the International Space Station," said Aaron Parness, a JPL robotics researcher and the principal investigator for the new grippers, in a news release. "This is definitely a problem we're going to have to deal with. Our system might one day contribute to a solution."

The new gripping system works similarly to the way a gecko can cling to walls. Geckos' feet have branching arrays of tiny hairs that can conform to a rough surface with a lot of force. In this case, the researchers created synthetic hairs, called stalks, that are wedge-shaped and have a slated, mushroom-shaped cap. When the gripping pad lightly touches part of an object, only the very tips of the hairs make contact with that surface. And the stickiness of the grippers can be turned on and off by changing the direction in which you pull the hairs.

In recent tests, the new grippers were able to grapple a 20-pound cube as it floated. In addition, the grippers managed to grapple a researcher wearing a vest made of spacecraft material panels, representing a 250-pound object.

The findings could be huge in terms of cleaning up space junk in the future. So far, the grippers have been tested on more than 30 spacecraft surfaces, which could mean that they'll be extremely useful in the future.

Want to learn more? Check out the video below, courtesy of YouTube.

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