This Giant Laser Is NASA's Latest Plan For Handle Space Junk!

We recently complemented a student on his awesome design for a space bound garbage truck -- a tool that could one day be necessary if we don’t soon do something about the space junk problem. Now, it looks like some researchers from NASA, Stanford University and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) have teamed up to get the space junk out of the way if a collision is imminent. Oh, by the way, they want to use a frikin' laser beam!

Unfortunately, they’re not going to blast the debris out of the sky like a scene from some sci-fi movie. Instead, the team believes they can use a $1 million commercially available industrial laser beam to move the space junk out of the way, preventing the collision. It could also be used to change a satellite’s orbit without having to waste the precious fuel onboard. While a million bucks really isn’t much when you look at NASA spending, it’s not the only piece of the puzzle. The project would also require financing for the actual operation systems, which they say could cost tens of millions of dollars.

Apparently, this space junk laser concept could clear out about 10 pieces of space trash a day, making it much safer for future manned-missions and all the running equipment we have floating around up there now. Also, to avoid international tensions, the team suggests the project be a collaboration between several nations. I guess they don’t want anyone to think they’re planning a new laser weapons system.

The only problem with a system like this is that it doesn’t take care of the major issue -- the debris. A system like this would kind of just delay the inevitable, all that junk would still be there; it would just be orbiting in a different position, away from whatever it was about to hit. Either way, I can’t imagine being one of the people with this job, shooting space junk all day.