Measures to deal with the risks of space junk

Tracking debris in the Earth‘s orbit with centimeter precision using efficient laser technology

Research News /

Uncontrollable flying objects in orbit are a massive risk for modern space travel, and, due to our dependence on satellites today, it is also a risk to global economy. A research team at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF in Jena, Germany, has now especially developed a fiber laser that reliably determines the position and direction of the space debris' movement to mitigate these risks.