Harpoon-throwing satellite takes aim at space junk

Abstract

In 2009, a US communications satellite accidentally smashed into a Russian one - creating thousands of shards that now hurtle through low Earth orbit, raising the threat of future collisions. Last year, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency tried to unfurl an electrodynamic tether and hook it on to a piece of space debris; the mission failed when the tether did not release as expected. [...]the European Space Agency (ESA) is working on ideas for a more complex spacecraft that could dispose of space junk or perhaps even refuel a satellite in orbit, extending its life, says Luisa Innocenti, head of ESA's Clean Space initiative in Paris.