tracking more than 40,000 objects in space about only 5,000 are active satellites. the vast majority of space junk from two major players in the first space race. russia and the united states. >> if these spacecraft were left by the u.s. government and in general, they were, then that becomes their responsibility to clean it up in the same way the military would not leave a broken down tank on the battlefield nor would it go ahead and leave a derelict ship at sea. >> reporter: so far, the effort to clean up space led by japan in the european space agency and private companies. some companies like clear space are trying to grab debris with robotic tentacles and others trying to catch it with a massive fishing net and in august, a company called astroscale successfully tested the satellite with the magnetic arm. >> we use a robotic arm that