Japan's giant net to trawl for space junk
Japan's space agency has joined forces with a fishing company to build a giant net several kilometres in size to collect debris littering space.
The agency plans to attach the thin metal net to a satellite and will then detach it so it can orbit Earth.
It will snare hundreds of thousands of pieces of junk threatening satellites and space shuttles.
The net and its contents will eventually be drawn back towards Earth and will burn up while entering the atmosphere.
The super-strong space net is being developed with a 100-year-old Japanese fishing net company and is designed to catch small particles as well as larger objects such as spent rocket stages.