Lasers Could Be Used To Blast Junk In Space

The earth is right now creaking under the weight of close to 7 billion people, and it goes without saying that the more one consumes, the more there is a need to be able to dispatch of such trash in a prime and proper manner. Landfills are fast running out of space, and with the space age kicking off a few decades ago, even plenty of rubbish has been left orbiting around our earth. Is there something that can be done to get rid of all the unwanted rubbish that circulates through the orbit? Australian company Electro Optic Systems (EOS) has more or less figured out one particular route – that is, to blast out all of the debris from the sky using lasers.

Space junk comprises of more than old and unused satellites as well as sections of rockets that float around. It would be the small objects that are so dangerous, and EOS has made an estimate that there will be approximately 20,000 objects in orbit which is roughly the size of a football or larger, alongside numerous others that are far smaller – and these smaller ones are the very ones to be wary of.

Lasers will come into play, as it uses ground-based lasers to track what they think are the most dangerous objects out there, before cranking up the lasers to vaporize them, hence reducing the risk of collision and damage.

Edwin Kee
Categories: General
Tags: laser, Science