Man's numerous space activities have created enough space junks, numbering to some 19,000 objects dangerously orbiting Earth by the last count, that scientists are now considering the use of ground-based laser beams to move the trash out of the way and prevent possible collisions.

These space junks, with many measuring more than four inches, could be diverted out of harm's way by using laser technology largely used for commercial purposes and research telescopes, according to a NASA report published by arXiv.org.

The Ames Research Center report is exploring the possibility of altering debris orbits by using laser lights that carry a nudge more power than sunlight, which according to research head James Mason is the same physics "as using the light pressure of photons to propel solar sails through space."

Mason said that simulations conducted by his team showed that "a 5 kilowatt laser used for industrial wielding and cutting, combined with adaptive optics used on telescopes ... would over a few days provide enough momentum to move objects sufficiently to avoid a significant proportion of predicted collisions."

He added that once proven viable and actually utilised, the whole procedure represents but "a fraction of the cost of physically collecting disused equipment and debris in orbit."

The research team said that space debris can actually be de-orbited by high-powered laser beams but the procedure inevitably points to the development of a possible military weapon and "we wanted something far less threatening," Mason stressed.

The report is looking to prevent collisions by decimating enough numbers of space junks, with the team hoping for an "international collaboration having the system going continuously, engaging multiple debris targets one after another."

The research findings also aim to avert the prediction of clouds of debris made by NASA scientist Donald Kessler in 1978, who said that collision between space junks orbiting the Earth could spawn cascading effects and eventually lead to the formation of permanent belts of debris, known to space experts as Kessler syndrome.

The report said that with the amount of junk currently orbiting the Earth, Kessler's projections appear to be holding true as the debris increased by 20 percent in the past two years when two satellites and a Chinese spacecraft were destroyed in space.

That hovering debris, Mason fears, could find their way to a collision course with spacecrafts launched by man into space as he recalled that a US space shuttle absorbed damage on its windscreen when it was hit by a paint fleck, stressing "imagine what a chunk of satellite would do."