With a small population spread across a wide area, Australia relies heavily on satellites to deliver services. So later this year, a new centre, funded by A$20 million from the Australian government, will begin to track tiny pieces of debris and try to predict their future trajectories. The centre will operate from the Mount Stromolo Observatory in Canberra.

The ultimate aim is to knock shards of space debris out of their orbits using lasers based on Earth. The shards will then sink and burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.

Australia hatches plan to zap space junk with lasers