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Laser will protect ISS from space debris
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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A special laser device may be installed on the International Space Station that will destroy space debris that accumulates in huge quantities in near-Earth orbit.
To detect debris in space, experts plan to use a telescope that was originally designed to detect cosmic rays from the space station. Experts note that the destruction of foreign particles that threaten the integrity and normal operation of the orbital station may become one of the most effective methods of protection to date.
The decision was made to use the EUSO space observatory to observe space debris. This instrument is planned to be installed on the Japanese orbital station in two years. The laser gun, which in theory should destroy space debris, is still in the development process.
Experts noted that the gun will be equipped with an ultraviolet laser, which will reproduce approximately 10 thousand pulses per second. Such power will allow the laser to operate at a distance of up to 100 km and heat up the garbage remains. After the gun "fires", the garbage particles will fly towards the ground, where they will be burned in the atmosphere.
In order to test the laser device in action, scientists intend to place a low-power copy of the gun on the international space station. According to preliminary data, approximately 3 thousand tons of garbage fly aimlessly in near-earth orbit, these are various satellites that have spent their time, elements from rockets or installation blocks, remains of spacecraft after collisions, etc.
All this garbage flies in our orbit at a speed of more than 30 thousand kilometers per hour and is capable of damaging the skin of active spacecraft. Most space objects can withstand impacts only with small garbage (no more than 1 cm), when hitting larger particles, the risk of damage increases, and the larger the particle, the more damage it will cause. The greatest danger is represented by garbage residues from 1 to 10 cm in size, as they are quite difficult to detect.
According to NASA estimates, more than 100 tons of space debris fell on our Earth last year alone.
It is worth noting that over the past few decades, a huge amount of unnecessary debris has formed in space near the earth, in most cases these are abandoned or damaged satellites, some of which regularly fall to the ground.
Recently, NASA specialists have completed the calculation of objects that fell to our Earth last year. If the calculation is correct, then more than 100 tons of various objects returned from space orbit. The specialists also provided the most probable explanation for why garbage remains begin to fall to the Earth. According to experts, last year, due to solar activity, the boundary of the Earth's atmosphere increased, which contributed to the attraction of a greater number of objects from near-Earth orbit.