ISS Could Be Fitted With Lasers To Shoot Down Space Junk

An anonymous reader writes Japan's Riken research institute has suggested a new idea for dealing with space junk. They say a fiber optic laser mounted onto the International Space Station could blast debris out of the sky. From the article: "To combat the increasingly dense layer of dead satellites and miscellaneous space debris that are enshrouding our planet, no idea — nets, lassos, even ballistic gas clouds — seems too far-fetched to avoid. Now, an international team of researchers led by Japan's Riken research institute has put forward what may be the most ambitious plan to date. They propose blasting an estimated 3,000 tons of space junk out of orbit with a fiber optic laser mounted on the International Space Station."

Comments

Re:Doesn't work

[MightyYar]

Here is the problem. Blowing up or melting items does not work.

But if you heat up one side of an object, that side out-gasses or vaporizes and alters the orbit. Pick the side intelligently and you can slowly nudge stuff into a decaying orbit.

better links

[Gravis Zero]

there is a better article here: http://www.csmonitor.com/Scien...
you can read the full paper (for free) here: http://www.researchgate.net/pr...