Re:DirecTV races to decommission broken satellite before it ...
by wahern on Friday January 24, 2020 @05:12PM
(#22142946)
We do possess optical tractor beam technology:
> However, about 10 years ago, researchers found that the object may experience an optical pulling force (OPF) toward the source direction when illuminated by an unfocused beam, such as a diffraction-free (nondiffraction) Bessel beam, which is named an optical tractor beam (OTB). Although it seems counterintuitive, OPF has been theoretically proved and experimentally demonstrated within recent years, as will be reviewed in this paper.
> However, about 10 years ago, researchers found that the object may experience an optical pulling force (OPF) toward the source direction when illuminated by an unfocused beam, such as a diffraction-free (nondiffraction) Bessel beam, which is named an optical tractor beam (OTB). Although it seems counterintuitive, OPF has been theoretically proved and experimentally demonstrated within recent years, as will be reviewed in this paper.
Source: https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/journals/advanced-photoni...
Although, there's a lot of distance to cover between the current state-of-the-art and actually capturing orbital debris.