The Space Debris Crisis: Time for an International Treaty

Abstract

The growth of man-made debris in Earth s orbits has accelerated in the past decade to the point that uncontrolled cascading collisions between debris and active spacecraft is now occurring in low Earth orbit (LEO). A Chinese anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon test in 2007 and the Cosmos-Iridium collision in 2009 added significantly to the mass of debris in LEO. The space powers are now confronted with a stark choice: either work together to actively manage their use of the space environment, or learn to live without it. Current national policies and practices, space law, and international voluntary guidelines for mitigation of space debris offer a necessary, but insufficient, strategic solution to the space debris crisis. A radically new governance regime, codified in a legally-binding treaty, is needed to actively manage the space environment around Earth. The main objective of this treaty would be to ensure Earth s orbits do not become so congested that their use would become too dangerous or expensive. This regime would require space powers to cooperate to share limited orbital resources and space situational awareness information to a degree that has never been attempted before.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 23, 2011
Accession Number
ADA553047

Entities

People

  • Edgar M. Hollandsworth Iii

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Collision Avoidance
  • Earth Orbits
  • Environment
  • Low Earth Orbits
  • National Security
  • Orbits
  • Space Debris
  • Space Environments
  • Space Objects
  • Space Situational Awareness
  • Space Surveillance
  • Space Systems
  • Spacecraft
  • Spacecraft Orbits
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering.
  • Strategic Security Studies

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Orbital Debris