The International Space Station (ISS) may be fitted with a laser cannon designed for destroying space debris. In the end this solution may pave the way for development of an efficient strategy for protection of the low-Earth orbit from anthropogenic pollution, Lenta.ru reports with reference to Discovery News.

The scientists suggest using a telescope for detecting space debris; the telescope was developed earlier in order to detect sunrays from the ISS. Specialists believe that shooting foreign particles, which may pose threat to the orbital station, may turn out to be an efficient way of protecting it from the space debris.

Scientists decided to use Extreme Universe Space Observatory (EUSO) for monitoring space debris; the observatory should be installed on the station’s Japanese module in 2017. The laser cannon intended for destroying space debris is under development.

It is expected that the UV laser will be generating around 10,000 impulses per second. It will help heat up particles of space debris at a distance of up to 100 km, after that the particles will head into Earth’s direction by means of reactive evaporation and burn in its atmosphere.

In order to test the functionality of the cannon scientists decided to send its copy having lower power to ISS. They believe that about 3,000 tons of space debris is located at the low-Earth orbit (abandoned satellites, elements of rockets and upper stages, products of their collisions and other pieces of spacecraft).

These elements are moving with the speed of 36,000 km/h at the low-Earth orbit and may easily damage outer cover of spacecraft. Most spacecraft are able to withstand hits of particles with linear dimensions of 1 cm or smaller. In case of collision with larger debris the risk increases. This refers especially to particles with dimensions from 1 to 10 cm, which are hard to detect.