Scientists Are Working on a Tractor Beam to Remove Space Debris from Orbit

Scientists Are Working on a Tractor Beam to Remove Space Debris from Orbit/technologies/industrial-automation-space/b/blog/posts/scientists-are-working-on-a-tractor-beam-to-remove-space-debris-from-orbitUC Boulder is working on a electrostatic beam that generates electrostatic attraction to remove space debris from Earth orbit. (Image Credit: Schaub Lab) Scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder believe dead satellites orbiting the Earth co..en-USTelligent Community 12RE: Scientists Are Working on a Tractor Beam to Remove Space Debris from Orbithttps://community.element14.com/technologies/industrial-automation-space/b/blog/posts/scientists-are-working-on-a-tractor-beam-to-remove-space-debris-from-orbitSat, 24 Jan 2026 20:00:35 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:d15eddfb-32de-4965-9a8a-6a7024f870c3DAB0<p>The science is very sketchy.</p> <p>I think they will waste a lot of money before everyone realizes that this approach will not work.</p> <p>Electrostatic is a repulsive force. You can make it appear to be an attractive force on the small scale, but that is just using smoke and mirrors.</p><img src="https://community.element14.com/aggbug?PostID=29478&AppID=141&AppType=Weblog&ContentType=0" width="1" height="1">