Abstract: Because of the existence of space debris, the space environment is getting worse, and the space activities safety is affected by space debris. Many countries have developed detection technique for space debris, and the space debris laser ranging is a new technology. Firstly, the development and the status of space debris in the domestic and overseas were summarized in this paper. Secondly, space debris laser ranging echo was received successfully at Yunnan Observatories and the method of orbit determination with laser ranging date and angle date at single station was researched. The results of simulation calculation show that the precision of orbit determination by this method is better than that of by optical angle measurement. Finally, a method of space debris scale preliminary determination using the space debris laser ranging error was provided, and the feasibility of this method was verified by the experiments of ground target laser ranging and space debris laser ranging respectively, and this method is useful for further development of space debris scale determination.