Science fiction is quietly becoming an engineering reality in Korea. Decades after pop culture popularized the notion of orbital sanitation vessels — most famously depicted in the Korean blockbuster film "Space Sweepers" — the nation’s space agency is preparing a mission to clean up the increasingly crowded skies. The Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) announced a milestone step, Tuesday, in its effort to tackle orbital debris. Meeting at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology's (KAIST) Satellite Technology Research Center in Daejeon, officials completed the System Integration Readiness Review for the Active Debris Removal Satellite (ADR-SAT). Having cleared technical evaluations from an independent panel of experts, engineers will begin final assembly of the flight model next month, setting the stage for a launch aboard Korea's homegrown Nuri rocket in 2027. The initiative comes at a critical juncture for low Earth orbit. As commercial megaconstellations and national satellite programs proliferate, space junk — defunct satellites, spent rocket boosters and shatter