Space Debris Remediation

By Loretta Tracy (with research assistance by Justin Silver)

NASA Space Debris Plot of Debris; Source.

What is Space Debris?

There are objects floating through space that pose potentially serious consequences for mankind.  No, this is not Armageddon.  One of the biggest threat to space exploration efforts is not a giant asteroid, but comes from space debris.  According to a study by Dave Baiocchi and William Welser IV of the RAND Corporation, there are hundreds of thousands of particles in Earth’s orbit exceeding one centimeter in diameter.  This space debris, which comprises of “non-functional, man-made objects and components thereof,” floating through space has increased substantially in recent years.

Why is Space Debris a Problem?

This spike in space debris is due to both the increasing number of actors and missions reaching into the final frontier.  Why should we fret over such small matter, especially when it is not even here on earth?  Well let’s examine a few factors.  Peter B. de Selding in his article states that approximately 1,185 spacecraft will be launched into orbit over the next decade.  Couple this with the fact that the average price of a satellite will be $99 million (not to forget the $51 million launching costs.)  That’s a whole lot of money!  And it could all be for nothing if these satellites come into contact with space debris.  The RAND study also found that “the collision of any one of these objects with an operational satellite would cause catastrophic failure of that satellite.” James Dunstan and Berin Szoka expand on the problems caused by space debris in their Forbes magazine article:

            “At stake is much more than the $200 billion a year satellite and launch industries and jobs that    

            depend on them. Satellites connect the remotest locations in the world; guide us down unfamiliar   

            roads; allow Internet users to view their homes from space; discourage war by making it   

            impossible to hide armies on another country’s borders; are utterly indispensable to American 

            troops in the field; and play a critical role in monitoring climate change and other environmental   

            problems. Orbital debris could block all these benefits for centuries and prevent us from  

            developing clean energy sources like space solar power satellites, exploring our Solar System and  

            someday making humanity a multi-planetary civilization capable of surviving true climatic     

            catastrophes.”

Space debris is a problem and with that much debris orbiting the Earth we cannot rely on Bruce Willis to save us, or our satellites.     

Although his help couldn't hurt...

What Does this Mean for the Legal Field?

Efforts aimed at solving the space debris problem have been primarily focused on mitigation efforts.  This means that those who reach space have been trying to reduce the amount of space debris that their crafts emit.  Recently, there has been a push by multiple actors to begin literally cleaning up space through the process of remediation.  However, this process creates a few significant problems. 

The International Interdisciplinary Congress on Space Debris Remediation defined a few of these problems in their Preliminary Program created for their November 2011 meeting.  The first is in relation to defining an object as space debris and then garnering the permission for the removal of the debris from the owner of the debris.  Currently, the five space treaties do not provide these definitions and do not provide a process by which this removal can begin. 

The second issue is related to liability, which is also not explicitly recognized under the current space treaties.  The Preliminary Program provides the following hypothetical:

            “If, in a state’s unilateral effort to remove from space or service its own space object in situ, a 

            functional space object launched and operated by another state is instead inadvertently damaged or 

            plucked from its orbital location and brought to the earth undamaged. In the latter situation, it can  

            be argued that the liability provisions of the current regime would not apply in such a situation  

            since, strictly speaking, no damage has been caused in outer space, in the air space or on the         

            surface of the earth.”

These issues are just the beginning of legal issues in relation to space debris.  Only time will tell what other problems arise.  Until then I have posted the articles I used in this article as well as further readings for those who want a more in depth understanding of space debris.

Sources:

Baiocchi, Dave and William Welser IV, Confronting Space Debris: Strategies and Warnings from Comparable Examples Including Deepwater Horizon, 2010

http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2010/RAND_MG1042.pdf

de Selding, Peter B., Space Forecast Predicts Satellite Production Boom, June 2009, http://www.space.com/6839-space-forecast-predicts-satellite-production-boom.html

Dunstan, James and Berin Szoka, Beware of Space Junk, December 2009, http://www.forbes.com/2009/12/17/space-junk-environment-global-opinions-contributors-berin-szoka-james-dunstan.html

Preliminary Program: International Interdisciplinary Congress on Space Debris Remediation, August 2011, http://www.mcgill.ca/files/iasl/3rd-Space-Debris-Congress-Program.pdf

Additional Information:

42 U.S.C.A. § 18441

17 F.C.C.R. 5586

19 F.C.C.R. 11567

44 Vand. J. Transnat'l L. 589

29 Yale J. Int'l L. 363

99 Am. J. Int'l L. 649

24 Hastings Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. 125

60 J. Air L. & Com. 1139

15 Ariz. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 319

T.I.A.S. No. 8480, 28 U.S.T. 695, 1976 WL 166855 (U.S. Treaty)

T.I.A.S. No. 7762, 24 U.S.T. 2389, 1973 WL 151962 (U.S. Treaty)

20 Geo. Int'l Envtl. L. Rev. 1

25 Yale J. Int'l L. 145

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Some Current Events in Space

By Justin Silver

So this is not going to be an in depth review of a space law issue. I realize that you may be wondering what the point of having a space law blog is if I'm not going to give you in-depth information on space law. Regardless, I think it may be useful as a first post to give a background on some current events that relate to space and talk about some of the legal questions they may raise. As a side note I have included at the bottom of this post two documents. The first is the Commercial Space Launch Act, which is the law that governs private space launch activity in the United States. The second document is a copy of the FAA rules governing requirements for privately launching human beings into space. I wanted to include them as they are going to be extremely important to any lawyer in the space law field going forward as commercial spaceflight tries to launch. (I promise to try and keep the cheesy space jokes to a minimum.)

                                               Credit: NASA

First off, some very recent news is NASA's test of the J-2X engine that will be a major component of NASA's new launch vehicle, the Space Launch System (SLS). The J-2X is actually an evolution of an engine used on the Saturn family of rockets during the Apollo program that has been updated for modern use. The Space Launch System, which is replacing the cancelled Constellation program, is a family of rockets based on Space Shuttle technology that is planned for use on mission to an object in the asteroid belt and then on to Mars. Related to this is the recent end of the Mars 500. Mars 500 was a Russian simulation of a 500 day trip to Mars. The experiment was conducted in order to test the reaction of a crew of 6 individuals on a simulated mission. Developments in exploration out of Earth's orbit raise some interesting legal issues. For example, how do you deal with a crew members that attack each other when the ship is 10s of millions of miles away from Earth and there is over a year left until return? What if an astronaut is injured upon landing on Mars and tried to file a lawsuit? Who would have jurisdiction?

                                Credit: SpaceX

Another interesting development in the field of space law is the birth of commercial human spaceflight. For example, SpaceX is developing the Falcon series of rockets and the Dragon capsule for both unmanned and manned flights to the ISS, private space stations such as those being developed by Bigelow Aerospace, the moon and even Mars. SpaceX revealed back in October that they have spent $500mm on developing their capsule and launch capability.

Needless to say, the development of private manned space exploration is going to raise issues that touch many different areas of the legal field including liability for injury, damage to property, and ownership rights to areas explored by private corporations on celestial bodies.

                                              Credit: NASA

Finally, if any of you remember some of the worries about space debris back in September when UARS was about to reenter the atmosphere it appears as if the situation may be about to repeat itself. Russia launched Phobos-Grunt on Tuesday as an attempt at a very interesting mission to land on Mars' moon Phobos and return back to Earth with a soil sample. The launch was successful but once in Earth orbit the engines that were supposed to fire to send the satellite on its way to Mars failed and the spacecraft's orbit is slowly decaying. If the Russians are unable to figure out how to fix the problem the spacecraft could re-enter the atmosphere, and while experts believe the probability is low, possibly spread seven tons of toxic hydrazine fuel over land. The issues with the mission only serve to underscore the liability that arises with any space launch and the growing hazard that space debris will pose both in orbit and on Earth in the future.

Well I hope this was at least a bit informative and everyone in SSLLS hopes to use this space (sorry I couldn't resist) to present issues throughout the year.

Commercial Space Launch Act, 51 U.S.C. Ch. 509, §§ 50901-21 (2011)

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FAA Final Rule on Human Space Flight Requirements for Crew and Space Flight Participants

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