Space Debris Mitigation Needs Maneuverability Rules, OSTP Told

The U.S. can help mitigate orbital debris by such things as investing in better cataloging of debris, mandatory beacons on satellites to enable better tracking, and pushing a moratorium on anti-satellite testing, said commercial space operator and other speakers at a White House Office of Science and Technology Policy event. Debris remediation was the topic of a similar session last week (see 2201130054). OSTP Space Policy Assistant Director Ezinne Uzo-Okoro said the feedback from the space community will help guide a plan to be issued this summer for agencies on policy actions and R&D the U.S. should prioritize for orbital debris.

Speakers backed maneuverability requirements for satellites operating above certain altitudes and more efforts or even requirements toward sharing ephemeris data. Others said overly burdensome regulations would be a barrier to entry for startups.

Post-mission low earth orbit satellites are the fastest-growing debris problem, with the LEO boom making it likely there could eventually be 20,000 at a given time in a downward spiral toward the atmosphere and at risk of colluding with one another, said Ken MacLeod of the Space Propulsion Synergy Team. "Two thousand can be managed, not 20,000," he said, urging that deorbit time post mission be at most about five weeks. He said there also should be an R&D focus on cost-effective deorbit technology. MacLeod suggested constellations employ a "cleanup satellite" with a grapple fixture that lets it grab failed or expired satellites and deorbit them more quickly.

"For too long, we have been afraid" to push for governmental space traffic management, consultant Doug Loverro said. A flourishing space economy is going to need active STM, he said. "We need to stop believing a non-regulatory environment is best for space." Satellites that lack maneuverability should be precluded from being launched into orbits that take a long time to degrade, he said.

The White House's 2018 STM space policy directive (see 1806180028) includes "a nice to-do list," and the Biden administration should get agency updates on where they are in implementing it, said Mike French, Aerospace Industries Association vice president-space systems. Those statuses could be a baseline for implementing the OSTP plan, he said. Secure World Foundation Washington office Director Victoria Samson said anti-satellite testing destabilizes global security and creates debris that's in orbit for years or decades. She said the 26-plus tests done by the U.S., Russia, India and China since 2005 created more than 5,300 trackable pieces of debris, with 1,500 from Russia's test last fall (see 2111160063).

Current orbital debris cataloging treats everything like a sphere in space, with no way to look up the size, shape, orientation or material properties of debris, said Moriba Jah, University of Texas at Austin aerospace engineering associate professor. He said the government should invest in extending the cataloging to objects "beyond the cannonball." Planet Labs engineer Mike Siegers backed funding better research into atmospheric models.

Citing the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Space space mission sustainability rating (see 2107260058), Danielle Wood, head of the MIT Space Enabled Research Group, said the U.S. should incorporate criteria and topics used in that rating into federal mission licensing and screening processes. "The gorilla in the room" is the need for a funding mechanism channeled at federal efforts to tackle debris, said Jeromy Grimmett, CEO of space robotics firm Rogue Space Systems. He said commercial space operators would be happy to contribute a small amount toward a fund paying for cleanup efforts. He likened the fund to the EPA's Superfund: "You would be surprised at how many space companies are willing to take on a minor burden to go forward."

Calling for federal funding of an open architecture data repository of objects in space, Araz Feyzi, chief technology officer at conjunction assessment firm Kayhan Space, said the private sector can collaboratively develop the platform. He urged industry-created standards on dealing with possible conjunctions, with the government's role being supporting such plans and advocating for them internationally. Tether Applications President Joseph Carroll suggested a regulatory fee structure, with operators that contribute more to orbital debris paying more. He said the lower a satellite system operates the better in terms of how quickly its debris falls out of orbit. SpaceX having its Starlink operations between 350 and 550 km, with most of it likely happening before the orbit of the International Space Station, is "a big step," he said.