After a first test run of laying the ground work for a potential American Space Force back  in March, President Trump recently pressed the issue more firmly and with more resolve after months of perceived inaction on the part of his subordinates.

For those who think that idea is far-fetched at best, here's something you might not be aware of:

Russian scientists are developing laser guns capable of blasting the space junk orbiting our planet into oblivion. LiveScience.com says Precision Instrument Systems --a research and development arm with the Russian space agency, Roscosmos-- submitted a proposal to the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) to transform a 10-foot optical telescope into a laser cannon. The report originated from Russian state media.  The proposal says scientists at Russia's Atlay Optical Laser Center will build this debris-monitoring telescope, then, to turn it into a debris-vaporizing blaster, the researchers plan to add an optical detection system with an onboard "solid-state laser."

The cannon would then train laser beams on pieces of the half-million bits of space junk in low Earth orbit, heating up the bits of floating junk until they are entirely demolished. Representatives from Precision Instruments Systems confirmed the existence of the report but "declined to elaborate further" on any details related to the project's production time frame or its technical requirements.

Human-made space junk consists of discarded or broken parts of spacecraft, launch vehicles and other objects sent into space, and it comes in many sizes. Approximately half a million bits whizzing around the planet are the size of a marble or bigger, and about 20,000 of those are at least the size of a softball, NASA reported in 2013. These bits travel at speeds of up to 17,500 mph, and at such speeds, even a relatively small particle of debris could seriously damage a spacecraft or satellite.

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