Nobu Okada wants to save the planet from orbiting junk, which he says threatens to cut us off from the satellites we depend on and prevent us from traveling into space. But to help fund that, he needs to land a can of powdered sports drink on the moon.

"Debris affects our daily lives. What if you can't be prepared for storms, not watch the World Cup, if ships can't use GPS?" he told a recent news conference. "Our daily lives are totally dependent on satellite technology."

Okada, 41, says his Singapore-based startup Astroscale is just part of a dramatic shift in the "NewSpace" industry, the private companies and new technologies that are challenging old, expensive government-driven programs. While startups and giants like Google are sending ever more objects into space, Okada is tackling what Lux Research analyst Mark Bunger calls the top problem of NewSpace: clearing up what is already there.