Debris

G7 Deems Space Debris an ‘Urgent’ Problem

The growing amount of space debris in orbit is an “urgent issue” that must be addressed by international organizations, according to the G7 nations meeting in Japan this weekend. 

“We strongly encourage further research and development of orbital debris mitigation and remediation technologies,” officials wrote in the communiqué from the G7 Science and Technology Ministers’ Meeting, which concluded ahead of the full summit. “We also strongly encourage development of national guidelines and regulatory frameworks for remediation that align with guidelines developed within UN COPUOS.”

The path forward

The communiqué is not a binding document, but the nations still committed in it to take some steps to support debris mitigation, including:

  • Following guidelines set by international bodies such as the UN’s Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space or the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee
  • Sharing national best practices on SSA and reducing debris
  • Supporting work to draft new debris mitigation regulations

On the world stage

While space did get a shoutout in the science ministers’ readout, it’s unlikely to play a key role in the discussion at the broader G7 summit, where world leaders are expected to focus on Russia’s war in Ukraine, China’s rise, climate change, nuclear disarmament, and resiliency in food and supply chains. 

“It’s absolutely essential for space to be addressed in major global fora like the G7 and NATO”, according to Benjamin Schmitt, a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and cofounder of Duke’s Space Diplomacy Lab, who said that “space needs to play a more prominent role in international meetings like the G7 in the future, especially given the massive scale of the contemporary space economy.”

Giovanni Zanalda, a professor at Duke and Schmitt’s fellow cofounder at the Space Diplomacy Lab agreed, pointing out that problems surrounding space debris and norms of behavior in orbit are not things that should be pushed off to deal with later.

“Space requires such a long-term horizon that sometimes from a political point of view it is not a priority. But it should be a priority because the more we wait…[problems are] getting worse and worse. And the worse they become, the more difficult it is to address them,” he said. “It’s a matter of making sure people and institutions know that space is not the future, it’s already the present.” 

Related Stories
BusinessDebrisTechnology

SDA Awards $1.9M for Deorbit Studies

Six companies will complete the studies this year to explore redundant, cost-effective contingency options for the SDA’s future satellite disposal needs.

DebrisInternational

Momentum Builds for Global Space Sustainability Policy

The European Space Policy Institute analyzed 15 different instruments that have been created since the turn of the millennium to demonstrate momentum growing in the international space sustainability movement.

CivilDebris

NASA, Starfish Partner on SSPICY Debris Inspection 

NASA is kickin’ it up a notch on a SSPICY mission to check out a defunct sat in LEO. Starfish Space will work on the program—formally known as the Small Spacecraft Propulsion and Inspection Capability mission—under a Phase III SBIR contract from the space agency worth $15M over three years, NASA announced on Wednesday. A […]

DebrisInternationalScience

Satellite Break-up Experiment to Help ESA Learn How Satellites Die

The Destructive Re-entry Assessment Container Object mission, or DRACO, will be the first demo of a fully controlled break-up during its return to Earth.