Fighting Space Junk: The Next Generation

Lockheed Martin Joins With Tech Company to Build a Space Debris Tracking Station in Australia

Space junk kept us on the edges of our seats in "Gravity." The WSJ's Rob Taylor tells Miguel Gonzalez about two companies teaming up in the Australian Outback to track the real-world space debris.

CANBERRA, Australia—Space junk has become a real-life worry of the kind depicted in the hit Hollywood movie 'Gravity,' where a storm of debris rips through a spacecraft in orbit and leaves the crew stranded.

Now, U.S. defense giant Lockheed Martin Corp. has joined with a Canberra-based tech company to build a tracking station in the Australian Outback that can follow debris as small as a baseball threatening commercial and government satellites orbiting the Earth.