There's certainly no shortage of junk in space, and scientists at Switzerland's Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (or EPFL) say that they're now a step closer to a solution that could help clean up some of it. They've announced today that they've settled on a design for the CleanSpace One satellite, which could one day be used to scoop up smaller satellites and other space debris and drag them down to safely burn up in the atmosphere.

As the researchers explain in a news release, the design they've agreed to is, more or less, "a giant Pac-Man." To scoop things up, the satellite will deploy a large, cone-shaped net that will envelop and close down on its target. That, they explain, is both more reliable and more forgiving than other options they considered like an articulated hand or claw that would grab the satellite.

While there's still plenty more smaller-scale tests to be done in the interim, the satellite's first big mission is expected to happen by 2018, when it will be launched into orbit and trained on the tiny SwissCube satellite that has been in orbit since 2009. Check out the video below for a glimpse at what that operation will look like.

[via Engadget]