'Star Trek' tractor beam to move objects in space

In collaboration with US-based technology company Arx Pax, NASA is planning to create a Star Trek-style tractor beam which is capable of moving objects in space, media reports said.

The new project, the result of an agreement between NASA and Arx Pax, aims to build microsatellite capture devices that can manipulate and couple satellites from a distance using magnetic fields, instead of touching them, www.ibtimes.co.uk reported.

Technology may help to repel orbiting junk that may threaten spacecraft or attract one satellite to another.

"We continue to place a firm emphasis on innovation and collaboration. We are confident and excited about the possibilities this agreement proposes," Luke Murchison from NASA was quoted as saying by Mail Online.

The project may help moving an object, like a satellite, or holding it stationary without physical contact.

Arx Pax developed a hoverboard that floats in mid-air, just like that seen in the 1980s classic film Back to the Future.

Known as the Hendo Hoverboard, the technology uses "hover engines" emitting magnetic fields that push against each other when there is metal beneath them.