An Australian company has taken the lead to remove orbiting space junk by using lasers.

Thousands upon thousands of objects litter space and orbit the Earth at high velocities. A collision between a spacecraft and a large piece of space debris would be catastrophic for the spacecraft, especially if this was a telecommunication satellite.

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That's why Australian company Electro Optic Systems (EOS) is currently leading privtge sector efforts to track space debris floating in space, 38,000 kilometers above us.

EOS Chief Executive Ben Greene said national space agencies are worried about a piece of space debris crashing into their satellites. These satellites cost from anywhere of US $30 million to $30 billion.

It also doesn't help there are an estimated 20,000 orbiting objects bigger than footballs zooming  around in Earth orbits. Greene says that a pile-up is inevitable in 20 years.

EOS' plan is to first use lasers to log orbital objects. This will just buy time, however.

In time, their lasers will develop into what they call, the "Star Wars" stage, where they can push objects into the atmosphere and have reentry destroy these objects.

"Even the smallest amount of light puts pressure on the surface it lands on," Greene says. "The mid-range of objects between 5 cm and 10 cm are very amenable to moving around with light, and they present 90% of the threat for satellites."

EOS has already attracted U.S. aerospace contractor Lockheed Martin for the object-logging phase. They are to build a new tracking station in Western Australia.

At the same time, EOS is also working with the Australian government's Mt. Stromlo Observatory in the Australian Capital Territory to research and perfect laser optics.

While Greene says they could be using these lasers in 10 to 20 years' time, the bigger problem is to industrialize the solution since EOS would need to build ground stations around the world.

Greene is confident in the plan and calls it the most aggressive plan in the world to solve the problem of orbiting space debris.

TagsLasers, Australia, space junk, Electro Optic System, EOS