DUBLIVE: Researchers say that the International Space Station could one day get armed with a laser to shoot down orbiting space debris.
The new concept could even one day lead to a laser-firing satellite that could destroy a large percentage of the most problem causing space junk orbiting the Earth, scientists said.
According to NASA, there is almost 3,000 tons of space debris residing in a low-Earth orbit. This includes old, derelict satellites, leftover rocket parts and bodies, and other parts and tiny bits of wreckage produced by collisions of other larger objects. Impacts from this junk can cause damage to satellites due to their speed, as most are traveling about 22,370 miles per hour.
As more and more satellites and spacecraft are sent into space, the problem of space debris is growing. Moreover, the large pieces of junk can create even more small fragments if they get hit, and those fragments then go on to hit even more objects, creating a chain reaction of space junk cluttering up the orbit around Earth.
Most spacecraft, including the International Space Station, can withstand impacts from most of the smaller junk in the neighborhood of 0.4 inches due to the shielding on the crafts. However, there are more than 700,000 pieces larger than that currently in orbit. While items larger than 4 inches are easy to spot, the ones between 0.4 inches and 4 inches in size are difficult to identify and dodge.
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