Japan intends to clean up cosmic garbage with lasers

Japanese scientists are planning to use lasers to clean up garbage in space, limiting their impact on research programs.

Clear the universe with lasers

The expert group of Riken Research Institute proposed a method to remove about 3,000 tons of debris by firing a laser through a fiber optic cable attached to the International Space Station (ISS).

Scientists estimate that about 500,000 fragments from the universe are moving around Earth's orbit.(Photo: NASA)

In this process, the infrared telescope of the European Space Observatory (EUSO) will follow the fragment. Scientists use a laser-based system to shoot lasers, pushing debris out of their orbit. Space waste will be burned when it falls back to Earth's atmosphere. This method can destroy the most dangerous debris with a size of about one centimeter. The intense laser beams will create a jet, pushing them back into the Earth's atmosphere

The project is seeking to introduce a small-scale system to ISS for testing with a 20-cm telescope and a 100-fiber fiber laser system. If successful, experts will post ISS three-meter telescopes and 10,000-fiber laser systems.

" In the future, we can build a bombardment system that moves in orbit at an altitude of 800 km, where a large amount of cosmic garbage is concentrated , " IB Times quoted Toshikazu Ebisuzaki, the leader of the research group. save, say.

Cosmic garbage is a part of missiles, inactive satellites or debris and many other components. When floating in Earth orbit, junk pieces are at risk of colliding with active spacecraft or satellites.