Space junk is a real problem. Unlike your cluttered closet, the bits and pieces that are clogging up Earth's orbit have the potential to cause millions of dollars' worth of damage. Speeding around at speeds topping 15,000 miles per hour, even a tiny crumb can blast a hole in the hull of an expensive spacecraft. And that's just the small stuff.

To help combat this problem, the European Union plans to launch a junk-collecting satellite next year. Named "RemoveSat," it will be armed with nets, harpoons, and a drag sail, to see how well each method of garbage collection actually works in space.

Only, instead of collecting actual junk, RemoveDebris will carry its own test "junk" into orbit. The Guardian reports that first it'll release a tiny CubeSat and try to capture it with a net.