XI'AN, CHINA — China has come up with a new plan to rid the Earth of its space garbage, using giant lasers.<br /><br />Wired reports that Earth's orbit is currently cluttered with fragments from old satellites and rocket stages, called space debris, which number at least 20,000.<br /><br />Satellites and spacecrafts are frequently at risk of colliding with the fragments and being damaged by even small, pebble-sized pieces.<br /><br />To address this problem, Chinese researchers from the Air Force Engineering University in Xi'an have proposed a plan to launch a satellite-mounted laser that will emit short bursts of infrared light to target small debris. <br /><br />The laser will break down the space debris into tiny, harmless particles, and hopefully rid the Earth of its space junk.<br /><br />The plan sounds reasonable enough, but of course, with China, there's no telling if the space laser will actually be for cleaning, or be used as a tool for world domination.
