'Space harpoon' designed in UK could be the answer to space debris

A "space harpoon" designed to catch a defunct satellite the size of a double-decker bus has passed a crucial earthbound test.The harpoon, designed by Airbus UK, could be launched on a spacecraft in the 2020s in an attempt to snare the 8-ton EnviSat, which stopped working in 2012.Pete Steele, a space systems engineer at Airbus, told Sky News that the captured satellite would then be dragged through the atmosphere, burning up as it goes.