Japan will tidy up in space: the development of a satellite has begun to destroy garbage in orbit

June 06, 2020 | 19:00 |5362

Japan's Aerospace Agency (JAXA) has begun work on a satellite to destroy space debris, NHK said. JAXA plans to involve SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation and one of the country's most respected research institutes RIKEN in the creation of a unique spacecraft. It is assumed that the satellite will irradiate space debris with a laser beam, and then dump it into the atmosphere in a split form. JAXA expects that in 2023 the device will be able to pass technical tests in outer space. Currently, there are more than 220 thousand technogenic objects related to garbage in a near-earth orbit with a total weight of more than 5 thousand tons.