Space junk solution? Using lasers and 'tow-trucks', Japanese firms target space debris
From laser beams and wooden satellites to galactic tow-truck services, start-ups in Japan are trying to imagine ways to deal with a growing environmental problem: space debris.
Junk like used satellites, parts of rockets and wreckage from collisions has been piling up since the space age began, with the problem accelerating in recent decades.
"We're entering an era when many satellites will be launched one after another. Space will become more and more crowded," said Miki Ito, general manager at Astroscale, a company dedicated to "space sustainability".
"There are simulations suggesting space won't be usable if we go on like this," she told AFP. "So we must improve the celestial environment before it's too late."
The European Space Agency (ESA) estimates that around one million pieces of debris larger than a centimetre -- big enough to "disable a spacecraft" -- are in Earth's orbit.
They are already causing problems, from a near-miss in January involving a Chinese satellite, to a five-millimetre hole knocked into a robotic arm on the International Space Station last year.
"It's hard to predict exactly how fast the amount of space debris will increase," said Toru Yamamoto, a senior researcher at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
But "it's an issue that raises real concerns about the sustainable use of space."
With satellites now crucial for GPS, broadband and banking data, collisions pose significant risks on Earth.
Tadanori Fukushima has seen the scale of the problem in his job as an engineer with Tokyo-based satellite operator and broadcaster SKY Perfect JSAT.
"A stationary satellite would get roughly 100 'debris-approaching' alerts a year," he told AFP.
International "satellite disposal guidelines" include rules like
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