NEW YORK: Researchers at the Riken Institute in Japan have proposed a blueprint for a purely space based system that combines a super-wide field-of-view telescope and a CAN laser to track and remove space debris from orbit. The researchers intend to deploy a proof-of-concept of their system on the International Space Station.
For the uninitiated, space debris are artificial objects that accumulate around the Earth as a result of human space activities. According to official numbers from NASA, the number of such objects have nearly doubled over the course of 4 years from 2000 to 2014 and they have become a major obstacle to space development.
