Japan launches 'space junk' collector

I wonder if the is any secret information that can be accessed on the junk?

Wow! Impressive. I'd be cool if this works.

It'd be nice if they could do the same for the swirling mass of garbage swirling in the Pacific.

It is space robbery. Imagine if you go to a department store and stuff your pockets?

I bet the large number of the debris came from the Chinese ASAT missile test in 2007

Well, it's about time an advanced space faring nation (or simulation thereof) got out to collecting that valuable stuff. There money just floating out there... millions alone in gold leaf covered panels, not too mention the platinum, paladium and sometimes various nuclear isotopes. <> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_(TV_series)

So, after attaching the tether, instead of a sub-meter to 3 meter or so piece of space junk, we'll have a '5,000 to 10,000 meter-long' piece of space junk?

You would have to match the speed and trajectory of the piece of junk you're trying to catch. That stuffs going thousands of miles an hour in different directions.

Would be a very useful tool if it works. I can see the tether being easily severed by other space junk, though.

@turbostat Google tells me that space junk travels at roughly 28,000kph. So even if a 5km tail is attached to something it will pass by in less than one second. Not sure the margin of error they use for collisions in space but I'm pretty sure it's more than that. Certainly the space station is moved out of the way as early as possible if there is any threat.

What I'd like to know is how many pieces of junk can be tagged each trip. With 100 million pieces, tagging each one individually seems like the proverbial drop in the ocean.

Yeah, I'm not really clear on what they're getting at.

Satellites nowadays are required to have a deorbiting plan before launch, to ensure they don't float around up their forever, a risk to future traffic. Maybe they mean to have the tether attached before launch, to ensure deorbiting.

There's a clearer explanation and video here: (warning: the music track may induce suicidal feelings)

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/09/japan_space_junk_collector/

They're not collecting the junk - they're trying to make them burn up in the atmosphere

Awesome idea, I wonder if they can commercialize this