Phys.org  September 28, 2018 Ejecting plasma beam from the satellite to impart a force to the debris to decelerate it so that it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere and burning up naturally, accelerates the satellite in the opposite direction, which makes it difficult to maintain a consistent distance between debris and the satellite. An international team of researchers (Japan, Australia) demonstrated that the bi-directional ejection of plasma plumes from a helicon plasma thruster can yield the space debris removal operation using a single propulsion system. In laboratory experiments, the plasma thruster was precisely controlled with a magnetic field and gas injection. […]