Teams of defence scientists are devising new ways of clearing up future space debris that risks cluttering up orbit and posing a threat to our military and communication systems.

Experts from the Defence Science Technology Labs in Wiltshire (DSTL) are, in a project with other academic colleagues, working on ways to clear space junk that orbits the Earth hundreds of miles above us.

Hundreds of thousands of man-made objects orbit the Earth and some of them pose a real threat to satellites, some of which make a vital contribution to Britain’s military capability.