Harpoon designed to capture junk and dangerous debris orbiting Earth has been successfully tested in space
Engineers are hoping the device will address the issue of waste material in space left over by past rockets and other deployments
A HARPOON to collect space junk has been tested successfully in orbit for the first time.
The device, from a British initiative involving Airbus, University of Surrey and the Surrey Satellite Technology firm, goes at 20 metres a second.
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The RemoveDebris mission is addressing the issue of waste space material, with up to 20,000 pieces being tracked circulating Earth.
Astronaut Tim Peake previously revealed the damage that orbital junk can cause spacecraft, when he shared an image of a chipped window panel on board the International Space Station in 2016.
It is believed that something as small as a paint chip could have caused the damage.
Reacting to the development, Science Minister Chris Skidmore said: "Space debris can have serious consequences for our communications systems if it smashes into satellites.
"This inspiring project shows that UK experts are coming up with answers for this potential problem using a harpoon, a tool people have used throughout history.
"This mission is a powerful example of the UK's expertise in space technology and that by working together, our world-class universities and innovative companies can hugely contribute to the Government's aims for a highly skilled economy through our modern Industrial Strategy."
A previous RemoveDebris experiment demonstrated how a net could be used to catch potentially dangerous pieces of rubbish orbiting the Earth.
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