Satellite Operators, Government Take Steps to Manage Debris In Space

As the lead military command for space operations, U.S. Strategic Command (Stratcom) monitors more than 1,000 active payloads and shares information on debris, congestion and other issues with governments and intergovernmental and commercial entities in order to promote safe spaceflight operation, a Stratcom official said. The threat of collision due to debris from satellites and other equipment is its biggest concern, the official said. The threat increases with more activities from space-faring nations, the official said: Debris can behave erratically on orbit and it “can ricochet off of other pieces and change orbital trajectories making tracking and accurate prediction of the debris path difficult.” It’s a danger to Stratcom’s mitigation planning “when even the best planning could result in unintended collision with debris that has changed course,” the official said.

Space debris is a critical challenge, a Defense Department spokeswoman said. It contributes to the congestion that erodes the space environment, she said. The department is working to “strengthen measures to mitigate orbital debris as well as establish pragmatic guidelines for safe activity in space to avoid the creation of new debris,” she added.

Debris also causes concern among satellite companies, some operators said. Space debris is a growing concern in the industry, said Tobias Nassif, satellite operations and engineering vice president at Intelsat. Although the risk of a collision in space is relatively small, “any collision that we do have in space has some really catastrophic consequences,” he said. Debris in space is different from debris on a freeway, said Tony Navarra, global operations president for Globalstar. In space, “a collision creates a debris field, like a cloud,” he said. “The cloud stays around that altitude and spreads over time.” Many satellites have to continue to fly through that debris field, he said.

The government has initiatives in place to address space debris. Stratcom’s Space Surveillance Network helps identify and track debris, the Stratcom official said. While the network is run by Stratcom, some of its sensors are located in host countries, the official said: However, “most do not have any role beyond land leases to the tracking process.” The command has sharing agreements with more than 30 commercial entities, including Globalstar, within the network, Stratcom said. When a potential conjunction between two space objects is identified, the Joint Space Operations Center (JSPOC) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California “provides a detailed notice of the impending collision to satellite operators so that they can conduct their own analysis to determine if a maneuver is warranted,” the official said. “This emergency notification service is extended to all commercial and governmental entities operating in space."

"They [Stratcom] do an estimate from their database and they'll inform the operator if they see there’s a problem or not,” Navarra said. Globalstar also has its own satellite operations control center and ground control center, he added: “If we see there’s going to be a possible collision, we can do a maneuver to change the position of the satellites.” The ground station “allows us to monitor the health of the satellites,” he added.

DOD is working with NASA and the State Department to “strengthen international norms against the creation of new debris and to address the challenge of existing debris,” the DOD spokeswoman said.

It’s also incumbent on industry to take the initiative against debris, Nassif and Navarra said. “We decided that we needed to be proactive as an industry and do a better job of trying to avoid space debris … avoiding what’s currently up there and taking whatever measures we can to reduce adding additional debris into space,” said Nassif, who’s director of the Space Data Association (SDA), a group of satellite operators that work to make space a safer environment. They use the SDA in conjunction with their internal tools and products from JSPOC “to try to get our best understanding of the space environment to avoid collisions,” he said.

Committees within industry and government working groups were formed to address the issue, Navarra said. Operators have obligations to deorbit the satellite when it’s at the end of its life “or move it out of the operating altitude to make sure it doesn’t become debris,” he added.

While collaboration is essential, it has been challenging, Nassif said. Industry has tried unsuccessfully for about three years to have an agreement with DOD, he said: “We really have not made much progress in working together to ensure the environment stays safe for all users.” There are those within government “that do understand and want to work closer together and there are some in the government that feel it is the government’s job and industry should stay out of it,” he said.

Some government and commercial entities support implementation of an international code of conduct in the space environment. The State Department leads the U.S. participation in the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, which has addressed orbital space debris, a State Department spokesman said. It’s working with the EU and other nations to develop an International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities, he said: If adopted, it would provide guidelines of responsible behavior in space “to reduce the hazards of debris from accidental and purposeful debris-generating events.” This framework “can encourage responsible space behavior, help to reduce the risk of debris and increase transparency of space operations,” the DOD spokeswoman said.

There is no need for any type of regulation, Nassif said. “The geosynchronous belt is a precious piece of real estate in space.” There’s a vested interest in any space operator “to act in a safe and secure manner and having to specify that in a code of conduct really shouldn’t be necessary,” he said. It also would be tough to enforce, he added.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is developing a program aimed at turning space debris into space resources, a DARPA spokesperson said. The Phoenix Program seeks to develop technologies to harvest and re-use valuable components from retired, non-working satellites in geostationary earth orbit “and demonstrate the ability to create new space systems at greatly reduced cost,” DARPA said.