There is trash everywhere, and much of it appears to be caused by people. There are islands made of real trash in the oceans, plastic debris is everywhere, and the air is polluted.
That being said, we have no control over the “junk” in space.
Well, not quite.
Nevertheless, EX-Fusion, a Japanese startup, stated to have a strategy in place to handle it.
They intend to use laser beams to bring it down.
The company intends to induce debris to leave our near-Earth orbit and land in a secure location where it can burn up naturally using a kind of laser called a diode-pumped solid-state laser beam.
Though EX-Fusion believes they can achieve this from Earth rather than putting these lasers on satellites, other firms have made similar recommendations.
CEO of EX-Fusion Kazuki Matsuo thinks that because his organization has experience with nuclear fusion, they have an advantage.
Initially, a laser was installed at an observatory in Canberra. They already have plans to collaborate with the Australian company EOS Space.
A weaker laser will be installed to track space debris that is smaller than four inches. It has previously been challenging for ground-based lasers to track trash that tiny.
After that, they’ll turn on a laser to see if it can strike the designated target. The theory is that a space debris fragment will be deflected by the laser beam and eventually slow down enough to crash into the atmosphere.
Although their timing is unclear, NASA has acknowledged the potential of their strategy and technology. Additionally, they have admitted that space debris is a significant problem that requires attention regardless of who comes up with the best solution.
At the moment, concerns regarding new satellites’ ability to land in orbit and the safety of the International Space Station are shared by engineers and astronauts.
Additionally, the trash can make space travel impossible for humanity to continue, or it might fall to Earth in an undesirable place.
Thus, it’s excellent that multiple businesses are attempting to address the problem in various ways.
It seems sense to act as soon as possible.