Swiss scientists said lsat Wednesday they plan to launch a "janitor satellite" specially designed to get rid of space junk, AP reported.

The US$11-million satellite called CleanSpace One is being built by the Swiss Space Center. Its launch would come within three to five years and its first tasks will be to grab two Swiss satellites that were launched in 2009 and 2010 but will be phased out of use.

The U.S. space agency NASA says over 500,000 pieces of spent rocket stages, broken satellites and other debris are orbiting the Earth.

(China.org.cn, CNTV February 21, 2012)

据美联社报道，瑞士科学家上周三表示，他们计划发射一种特制的“清洁工卫星”来处理太空垃圾。

瑞士航天中心目前正在研制值1100万美元的“太空清洁-1号”卫星。该卫星有望三至五年内发射，第一项任务就是将两颗届时已报废的瑞士卫星收回。据悉，这两颗卫星分别发射于2009年和2010年。

美国宇航局透露，现在有50多万片垃圾绕着地球转，其中有废弃的火箭级、坏掉的卫星、以及其它一些碎片。