Astroscale Japan is closer than any other company to creating a working space junk solution. The first test of the solution is currently ongoing, with a spacecraft crucial to the plan reaching orbit earlier this week.
near enough to space trash to catch it aren't anything new. In fact, spacecraft to the International Space Station do this every time they travel between Earth and the station. The difference, though, is that the defunct upper stage of the rocket is traveling at five miles per second around Earth and spinning brilliantly all the while.
can start cleaning up space junk, it has to catch up to the junk it's trying to grab. The goal is to eventually use satellites like