A dead satellite can become a high-speed hazard in an orbit that is already packed with working spacecraft. That risk is why engineers at the University of Colorado Boulder are building what sounds ...

The quest for a real life tractor beam continues, with a 2-micrometer-thick silicon light bender. The silicon metasurface changes a solid beam into a triple spiral one that can pick up particles.

As space junk continues to multiply around our planet, threatening satellites and space missions, a new breakthrough proposes a non-contact solution that uses electrostatic forces to gently move ...

Scientists may have discovered how to create a real-life tractor beam using electromagnetic radiation that can draw particles toward it. The result is something very akin to the tractor beam seen in ...

WASHINGTON - The tractor beam, a staple of science fiction including "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" that is employed to grab spaceships and other things remotely, is entering the realm of reality.

Researchers are developing a real-life tractor beam, with the goal of pulling defunct satellites out of geostationary orbit to alleviate the space junk problem. In science fiction films, nothing ...

Tractor beams are one of the most iconic pieces of science-fiction technology, most likely popularized through movies and TV shows such as Star Wars, Star Trek, and anything to do with advanced alien ...

Research in Hanspeter's Schaub's lab on real-life tractor beams is being highlighted in Live Science News. The technology, more officially called an electro-static tractor, is a project of Schaub's ...