Of the hundreds of millions of pieces of debris floating in space, a significant portion could wind up forming a 'ring' around the Earth, similar to the solar system's gas giants, a University of Utah professor has warned.
The debris is likely to give Earth 'its own rings' made of 'space junk,' University of Utah researcher Jake Abbott said in a recent interview with the Salt Lake Tribune.
However, Abbott and his team are working on a way to clean up the debris, putting a magnet posted at the end of a robotic arm and using the magnet's eddy currents to collect the space trash.
NASA estimates there are at least 23,000 pieces of debris that enter low-Earth orbit (LEO) larger than a softball in orbit, but there are probably 500,000 pieces between 0.4 inches and four inches.
It's possible there are 170 million pieces of space debris that are smaller than 0.4 inches, the European Space Agency added.
A significant portion of space junk could form a 'ring' around Earth, like the solar system's gas giants, a professor has warned
Saturn's rings are made of ice and rock, varying in size, and could be remnants of ancient comets, asteroids or celestial satellites
More than 27,000 pieces of orbital debris are tracked by the Department of Defense's global Space Surveillance Network sensors.
Four planets in the solar system already have rings — Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus.
Saturn's rings are made of ice and rock, varying in size, and could be remnants of ancient comets, asteroids or celestial satellites, NASA notes.
The rings that orbit orbit Jupiter and Neptune are significantly fainter and are primarily made of dust.
It's possible Jupiter's rings may stem from a number of meteor strikes that have hit the planet's 79 moons, according to the Royal Museums Greenwich.
NASA explains that LEO is now viewed as the 'world's largest garbage dump,' adding that it is expensive to remove the space debris due to the size of the issue — there could be as much 6,000 tons of materials in low Earth orbit.
A lot of space debris can reach extremely high speeds (in some cases, 18,000 mph or seven times the speed of a bullet), 'an impact of even a tiny piece of orbital debris with a spacecraft or hitting the Earth 'could create big problems,' NASA added.
Abbott is working on a way to clean up the more than 6,000 tons of materials in low Earth orbit, the majority of which is flying at speeds of 15,700 mph.
'Most of that junk is spinning,' Abbott told the news outlet. 'Reach out to stop it with a robotic arm, you'll break the arm and create more debris.'
In order to clean it up, he and his team are working on a way to use magnets to clear LEO from all the debris, using eddy currents.
'We've basically created the worlds first tractor beam,' Abbott explained.
'It's just a question of engineering now. Building and launching it.'
In a study posted to Nature last month, Abbott and his team note that there needs to be a magnet posted at the end of a robotic arm.
University of Utah researcher Jake Abbott is trying to use magnets to clear low-Earth orbit from the debris
'We've basically created the worlds first tractor beam,' Abbott said in an interview earlier this month. 'It's just a question of engineering now. Building and launching it'
As the magnets spin, they activate the eddy currents (electrical currents that are shaped like whirlpools) which create their own magnetic field.
Eventually, using the currents magnetic field, the space debris can
