Real-life Star Trek tractor beam being developed by boffins to solve space junk problem dailystar.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailystar.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The researchers are drawing on one of the oldest tropes in science fiction: tractor beams like the ones the Starship Enterprise uses to safely move asteroids out of the way
One day, small spacecraft could fly around Earth, using devices called electron beams to remove hulking, derelict spacecraft from orbit without ever having to touch. It may sound like science fiction, but aerospace engineers from CU Boulder say they could be ready to test the idea in space in just five to 10 years.