The Growing Problem of Space Debris

Beijing Law Review, 2019

Space debris is global mounting ultimatum to the enduring maintainability of the Outer Space activities and it ought to be deal in the very beginning. Otherwise, it will be too late. From the last couple of years, the rate at which the space activities have, resulted in the production of debris at very threshold position in a linear fashion. Ultimately, it has become the rendezvous of space debris general place. From couples of years ago, some incidents of collisions have enhanced the space debris accumulation, now crowded the corridor of earth orbit which constitutes the most serious pollutant of the near-earth space environment. Innovations in space applications have enhanced not only our awareness about universe but also daily lives world widely. Actually, the space treaties law neither explicitly forbids the production of space debris nor levies responsibility on the states to remove space debris. Because the absence of definition of space debris reveals the unending ambiguity between space debris and space object. There is no any legal procedure and mechanism available in existing space law regime to remove the space debris. Furthermore, who has the authority to take decision for the removal of space debris from the outer space? International space law does not permit interruption with space objects without the preceding approval from the launching State. This paper focuses on the legal and organizational challenges suggesting to revamp the fuzzy prevailing international space law regime to encounter incoming legal aspects.

There is no doubt that space matters in today's time. We have become highly reliant on space science and technology; life without it cannot be imagined. No one can deny the significance of space safety. Thus, for the smooth functioning of life, there is a need for safety and security in outer space. So, it would not be wrong to say that we are at the mercy of these new space technologies. Currently, space debris has been facing universal embryonic challenge to the sustainable activities of outer space, and if not coped at the earliest, the world would face titanic catastrophe. From the preceding decades, there have been some crashing episodes that heightened the space debris build-up, and the speed at which myriad space activities have caused the production of debris. Such huge congregation of debris can pose dangers to the working space satellites. It could also fetch numerous challenges at the same time. In addition, the tremendous development in space technology, involvement of private sector in space activities, Anti Satellite tests adventure of space powers, weaponization and commercialization (space tourism) has made outer space more vulnerable. Presently, there is a dearth of stringent space laws with regards to the proliferation of space debris. So, these issues can have an impact on the long-term sustainability of space activities. Progressing and advanced space faring nations have found the worth of a proficient International Regime that can play a vital role for ordering, overseeing, and managing the research and advancement of space. The paper will magnet the attention towards the real legal, technical, financial and managerial facts. Some countries are capable of removing space debris but encounter many obstacles while applying such actions. Besides who will bear the expense for the removal of space debris as its prerequisites giant sum of money. This paper is going to put forward an independent international space regime (ISR). In order to meet the financial issues this paper proposed to establish a Global Debris Removal Fund. The old-fashioned space law regime is the core obstruction for the debris removal procedure. Finally, it is desirable that all legal issues be fixed through the innovative procedures and reformed international space law (ISL) system with inclusive coordination and cooperation. Thus, it would be the perfect ISR for the resolutions of remediation and mitigation of space debris.

Journal of East Asia and International Law, 2019

Space debris is a global mounting ultimatum to the enduring maintainability of outer space activities. It ought to be managed from the very beginning. For the last couple of years, collisions have enhanced space debris accumulation, and the rate at which space activities have resulted in the production of debris is at a threshold position in a linear fashion. Ultimately, space has become the rendezvous of space debris. Considering the growing accumulation of debris and the emerging apprehension regarding a horrible strike and collapse of whole space programs, this paper focuses on the legal and administrative challenges. Both developing and developed countries realize the value of a competent regime that could administer, supervise, finance, and promote the research, examination, and development of outer space. Thus, this research suggests an autonomous, competent international space authority be established by a treaty or international agreement following the model of the deep seabed authority because it has similar natural resources but a geographically different location.

This thesis was conducted under the umbrella of the Department of Informatics & Telecommunication of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens for the Postgraduate Program “Space Technologies, Applications and Services”. The aim of thethesis was to highlight the significance of taking timely action in an international level, for the space debris issue not to become a major threat against the operational space systems and the humans orbiting earth. Although the issue of space debris has occupied the scientific, technological and political world almost since the beginning of the space era, no substantial solution has yet been found either at a scientific, technological or political level. The following chapters provide an analysis of the space debris problem and present the technological, legal, and financial barriers to an effort to remove space debris. Then, the concept of security in space and the way it is affected by the existence of space debris is developed. At the same time, an analysis of the risk that governs space missions, both at the level of operation of space systems and at the level of human life in relation to the increase in space debris, is conducted. This analysis shows that the increase in space debris due to more space missions, as well as the onset of the era of space tourism, will be a strong risk factor if immediate measures are not taken. Then, at a technical level, the possibilities of locating and tracking space debris are presented, as well as the prospects of these technical systems. In addition, the future requirements for space debris detection and tracking, for space debris removal missions to be effective, are presented. Additionally, the main active space debris removal techniques studied and developed by space agencies and space companies are presented. Finally, a comparative study of space debris removal techniques is conducted by scoring four main criteria and a hypothesis of an optimal space debris removal technology is presented as a result. The analysis of the thesis shows the importance of making immediate decisions and taking the appropriate actions, so that space debris does not constitute a major risk factor for humanity as we know it today.

Since the launch of the Sputnik 1 in 1957, around 8,000 man-made space objects have been launched in space. While these space objects have given us satellites and space probes which have revolutionized the way we perceive modern life and outer space, the byproduct of this process has been the creation of excessive space debris. The problem created by the uncurbed and unintentional production of space debris has been escalating in the past couple of decades and the lack of binding legislation regarding this issue is alarming news for future generations who may not be able to utilise the outer space resources that international space agencies are misusing so casually. This paper attempts to analyse the existing legislation governing space debris and the consequences of the lack of pre-emptive and corrective measures to prevent a crisis caused by space debris.

NLUD Law Research Series, 2012

Space flight is not a random activity, but one requiring decisions and Commitments with very long lead times and very long consequences.-Albert Gore 1 According to Ulf Merbold, the first West German astronaut, our genes are like a program that continuously pushes us beyond the horizon of our experience in order to conquer new positions, finally leading us into outer space. 2 The basic nature of the human being to explore its surroundings has been transformed to the extent of the exploitation of the outer space. The historic journey of exploration, previously unknown and inaccessible realm, was started fifty three years ago with Sputnik and reached upto the uncontrolled multipurpose use (like telecommunication, strategic, research, tourism etc.) of the outer space by the different countries which raised the serious global concern. Outer Space is res communis like Antarctica and High seas, any country of the international community can use and explore it.

Space Policy, 2011

Quite a bit of attention has been paid recently to the issue of removing human-generated, or artificial, space debris from Earth orbit. Much of this attention was sparked by modeling and research done by both NASA and ESA on the space debris population and their conclusion that mitigating debris is not sufficient, that debris-on-debris collisions will continue to generate new debris even without additional launches, and some sort of active debris removal (ADR) is needed. Several techniques for ADR have been proposed and a few, at least from a technical perspective, are plausible enough to merit further research and eventually operational testing. However, all of the proposed techniques present significant legal and policy challenges which will need to be addressed for debris removal to become viable. This paper summarizes the most promising techniques for removing space debris in both low Earth orbit (LEO) and geostationary orbit (GEO), including electrodynamic tethers and ground-and spacebased lasers, and discusses several of the legal and policy challenges these techniques pose, including:  Lack of a separate legal definitions for functional operational spacecraft and non-functional space debris  Broad international agreement on which types of space debris objects should be removed  Sovereignty issues related to who is legally authorized to remove pieces of space debris placed in orbit by other launching States  Establishing a global reference catalog of space debris objects in Earth orbit which is needed for identifying and conducting removal operations  Instituting transparency and confidence building measures to reduce misperceptions of ADR as antisatellite weapons development and deployment  Intellectual property rights and liability with regard to ADR operations The paper concludes that significant work in the legal and policy fields on these issues must take place in parallel to the technical research and development of ADR techniques, and argues that debris removal needs to be done in an environment of international collaboration and cooperation.

American Journal of International Law, 1992

The purpose of this thesis is to de scribe the G leg~lly ., 1-" relevant technical aspects of the space debris issue and to "analyse the legal and po1içy implications derived from. these facts • Chapter One provides a detaiied description df the ,te-cl)n.i,cal as'pects of the spaèe debris issue. Topics discussed are the sources of space debris, the risks p.osed by space. .. ' } " "debris to space activities-"'ândl to th~, outer space environment, the locations of space debris:: and 'its detection, and the" ," , probabl1ity of the occurrence of a srac.e debri~ risk event. D Chapter Two offers a comprehensivt-na1YSirt" of the 1.ega].. and-policy' implications 9f the space debris issue in order to evaluate the adequacy of the present international 1egal régime for recognizing and regu1ating" space debris. The first' 1 section-of the chapter examines the re1ationship between space deb.ris and the linternational law of outer spa~e ; the second s'ction examines the effectiveness of present leqà1 mechanisms for the regu1ation of space refuse, the proposed 1eqa1 term of art for space debris.

Aerospace

The growth of orbital space debris is both a consequence of and a potential hindrance to space activities. The risks posed by space debris propagation in the most used orbital regions highlight the need to adequately address the challenges posed to the sustainability in outer space. The preservation of the access to and usability of outer space in the long-term requires that action is taken which has to be the result of both mitigation and remediation measures for existing and future space missions. As the enforcement of such technical measures will depend on adequate regulation, they need to be approached also from a legal perspective. The deficiencies in law for space debris remediation mechanisms originate from the fact that although technical concepts have been developed, the legal framework for space activities does not impose any legal obligations for debris removal and on-orbit servicing. Nevertheless, an overview of the relevant legal framework shows that there is a legal basis for the protection of the outer space environment which can, as has already been the case with space debris mitigation guidelines, be substantiated in more concrete terms by the formulation of voluntary, non-binding instruments and included in national legislation.

2014

This article examined the growing risks of debris generated in outer space by manned and unmanned missions, the possible ways to mitigate such risks, and the legal reforms required to enforce such mitigation measures.