Russian Lasers Target Space Junk
Russia's Cosmic Guns
Target: Space Junk
Russian scientists are developing cosmic guns to obliterate orbiting space junk of which there are a half million pieces. The Russians aren't alone. Japan and China have similar plans to train laser guns on space debris and decimate it.
ROSCOSMOS
Russia's Federal Space Agency ROSCOSMOS is behind the plan. It wants to convert 10 foot optical telescopes into laser cannons. The new technological device will be an optical debris detection system with an onboard solid state laser to vaporize debris.
Laser Vision and Precision
The search and destroy missions will happen in low earth orbit and fire up the space junk until they're destroyed. The space junk is composed of pieces of broken spacecrafts and other objects launched into space. They range in size from a marble to much larger, including 20,000 that are the size of a softball. This is a very significant problem because the space junk travels at speeds up to 17,500 mph which is highly destructive on impact.
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| Orbiting Debris in Space |
Russian scientists are developing cosmic guns to obliterate orbiting space junk of which there are a half million pieces. The Russians aren't alone. Japan and China have similar plans to train laser guns on space debris and decimate it.
ROSCOSMOS
Russia's Federal Space Agency ROSCOSMOS is behind the plan. It wants to convert 10 foot optical telescopes into laser cannons. The new technological device will be an optical debris detection system with an onboard solid state laser to vaporize debris.
Laser Vision and Precision
The search and destroy missions will happen in low earth orbit and fire up the space junk until they're destroyed. The space junk is composed of pieces of broken spacecrafts and other objects launched into space. They range in size from a marble to much larger, including 20,000 that are the size of a softball. This is a very significant problem because the space junk travels at speeds up to 17,500 mph which is highly destructive on impact.
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