A spacecraft has successfully fired a harpoon into a target orbiting Earth in an operation that could help clean up the tonnes of space junk threatening satellites.
It was the third of four experiments in where scientists of the RemoveDEBRIS spacecraft, fired a harpoon at a speed of 20 meters per second to hit the target.
Researchers from the European Union funded project, hope the mission will help address the growing problem of space junk tracking around Earth as there are currently 500,000 pieces of space junk larger than the size of a marble orbiting Earth.