Well, not quite. This is more like it:
And here's why we need it:
While not anywhere near as littered as Earth's oceans, our orbit maintains its share of trash - 16.5 million pounds (7,500 tons) of it, to be precise. According to a 2013 NASA press release, more than 500,000 pieces of trash whip around the planet at 17,500 mph. That number has likely increased since then, as launches have not ceased.
I mean, there's a lot of room out there but it still means stuff can either fall on our heads or into things we don't want them to like the International Space Station.
The debris comes in a variety of forms: rocket shells, spacecraft that have lost communication, screws, etc. According to the NASA, even a fleck of paint traveling at 17,500 mph poses a hazard to future missions in the event of a collision.
When it comes to the debris, size matters. As of 2013, more than 20,000 pieces of junk larger than a softball were in orbit, 500,000 pieces the size of a marble or larger and "many millions of pieces of debris that are so small they can't be tracked," according to NASA.
Much more @ Space Maid: Robot Harpoon and Net System to Attempt Space Cleanup
