In 1999, astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder) strapped into the experimental spacecraft Farscape-1 and blasted into orbit. His intended mission, to carry out a high-velocity slingshot maneuver around ...

Researchers are developing a real-life tractor beam, with the goal of pulling defunct satellites out of geostationary orbit to alleviate the space junk problem. When you purchase through links on our ...

A team of engineers is working on a real life “tractor beam,” a staple device of spacefaring sci-fi that can push and pull objects at a distance without making contact. Tantalizingly, their early ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Artistic impression of the Electrostatic Tractor during an Earth encounter. (CREDIT: Fabio Annecchini & Dario Izzo) A dead ...

With Earth’s orbit cluttered with dead satellites, discarded rocket boosters and other space junk, ways to prevent the accumulation of such debris are desperately needed. How about using a tractor ...

A dead satellite can become a high-speed hazard in an orbit that is already packed with working spacecraft. That risk is why engineers at the University of Colorado Boulder are building what sounds ...

This article has been updated to clarify who pioneered the laser thruster technology, and to add further information about polymer-based tractor beam motors. WITH Earth’s orbit cluttered with dead ...