Shoot lasers to clear cosmic trash

The US Aerospace Agency (Nasa) is considering firing lasers to deflect fragments of cosmic trash that are at risk of colliding with satellites and the International Space Station.

The laser that NASA intends to use is similar to that used in automotive welding plants. They are burned and monitored through a telescope to shoot at the remaining pieces of cosmic trash in orbit.

This measure avoids ' Kessler syndrome ' when so many satellite trash flies around the earth, causing us to be trapped on our own planet.

In theory, when the photons in the laser beam carry a small amount of momentum in the right conditions, they can push the object in space and reduce its speed by 0.1 centimeters per second. Shooting lasers on a piece of trash for a few hours can change the path of the object to about 198m per day.

A metal fiber ball fell to the state of Queensland (Australia) in 2008.
(Photo: Daily Mail)

Since the Sputnik 1 spacecraft was launched into space 53 years ago, countries have created a pile of rubbish consisting of tens of millions of fragments in space.

Fragments flying around the earth come from old missiles and broken satellites. It is estimated that about 370,000 fragments are hovering in the earth's orbit.

Scientists have considered using Star Wars- style lasers, but this is extremely expensive. NASA's new approach only needs to use the device available for $ 800,000. Current telescopes can change a bit to reduce costs. This method is more accurate, able to deflect half of the debris.

Many collisions in space have occurred in the universe. Most recently, Kosmos 2251 satellite and Iridium 33 satellite and satellite satellites collided in 2009.