JUNE 6, 2023 – Early this year, we let you know about scientific efforts to develop technology that looks very much like a tractor beam. Now, at the University of Colorado, Boulder, aerospace engineers are taking a different approach to the same broad concept.

Researchers are focusing on the issue of the accumulation of debris in space, especially that occupying geosynchronous orbit around Earth. CU Boulder Today reports that NASA estimates that about 23,000 chunks of debris of varying sizes are circling the planet. Collisions have occurred with satellites and will become more likely as time goes on.

“The problem with space debris is that once you have a collision, you're creating even more space debris,” said Julian Hammerl, a doctoral student in aerospace engineering sciences at CU Boulder. “You have an increased likelihood of causing another collision, which will create even more debris. There’s a cascade effect.”

Hammerl, his colleagues, and project leader Dr. Hanspeter Schaub are exploring the idea of using beams of electrons to create a negative charge on a piece of space debris and a resulting more positive charge on the spacecraft delivering the beam.

“We’re creating an attractive or repulsive electrostatic force,” said Schaub. “It’s similar to the tractor beam you see in Star Trek, although not nearly as powerful.”

The team is working with a chamber within which they can simulate conditions in space and with simulated debris as well in the form of pieces of metal of varying shapes.

There are still challenges to work through, but the project has implications not just for the space that satellites occupy but also for that between Earth and the moon, and thus for the current projects getting humans back to the moon and beyond.

For more on this latest step toward a Star Trek future, head over to CU Boulder Today.