The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) is teaming up with a company that manufactures fishing equipment to create a net that will sweep the heavens of the man-made debris orbiting our planet.
The first test of the equipment is scheduled to start in late February, when a rocket will be launched and a satellite developed by researchers at Kagawa University will be deployed.
Once in orbit, the satellite is designed to unreel a wire net some 300 metres long that will then generate a magnetic field and - theoretically - attract some of the debris that is circulating beyond our atmosphere.
And there is a growing need for outer space to undergo a good clean-up, with experts estimating that 100 million bits of man-made junk zipping around the earth.
Of that total, some 22,000 are believed to measure 10 cm or larger and are therefore considered dangerous.
The majority of the debris is in a band between 700 kilometres and 1,000 kilometres above the surface of the planet, mostly parts of obsolescent and degrading satellites and rockets.
Out of control and impossible to accurately monitor, even the smallest piece of detritus - a single bolt, for example - could have a catastrophic result if it collides with a functioning satellite or the International Space Station, which has a permanent human crew aboard.
A recent study in the US suggested that a collision between two satellites could trigger an “uncontrolled chain reaction” that could destroy the communications network on earth.
“We started work on this project about five years ago and we are all excited to see the outcome of this first test,” Koji Ozaki, the engineer who heads the development team at Hiroshima-based Nitto Seimo, told the South China Morning Post.
The net is a mere 30cm wide when it is unspooled and made of three strong and very flexible lengths of metal fibre, Ozaki said. Taking advantage of the company’s experience in the fishing industry, a net measuring 1 kilometre long has already been fabricated at Nitto Seimo’s factory.
“Fishing nets need to be extremely strong because they need to be able to hold a large number of fish, but our tether does not have to be that strong,” he said. “It is more important that it is flexible.”
