What solutions ?

There seem to be two fundamental measures for limiting the number of items of debris in orbit, starting by passivating all spacecraft at the end of their lives to prevent any explosion. Secondly, although the ideal would be to bring each spacecraft back or send it off into Deep Space, the best current alternative is a graveyard orbit. This is an acceptable solution at an altitude of 2000 km or more.

The graveyard area for the geostationary orbit is 200 km above it. In the long term, however, it risks becoming problematic. In addition, to be able to perform this final operation a satellite must keep part of its reserve of propellant for this purpose, thus shortening its operating life.

Finally, at the moment, a huge legal void concerning Space means that the real-life application of these measures depends on little more than voluntary human stewardship of Space.

Orbiting items are inevitably slowed by the presence of the Earth’s atmosphere, however slight, so that in the long term those in low Earth orbit are bound to fall back to Earth. Objects in low Earth orbit are therefore said to have a “shelf life” corresponding to an orbital lifetime of 25 years: such objects (satellites and launchers) should not remain in orbit for more than 25 years after the end of their mission.

Although no-one can lay claim to the Universe, every single launch can involve many international stakeholders. If a problem arises, who is responsible, and for what? It should now be obvious that there is an urgent need for rules, on a genuinely ethical basis.

Given the urgency of this situation, many countries are taking action and working together. Several countries are following the example of the United States, Russia and Australia by incorporating regulations on Space activities in their own national legal systems.

France has been going in the same direction by progressively drawing up and ratifying its Space Act, incorporating the recommendations of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC).

The Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee and COPUOS

The IADC was founded in 1993 to coordinate the world’s activities related to Space debris and now includes 11 national or international Space agencies: ASI (Italy), BNSC (Great Britain), CNES (France), CNSA (China), DLR (Germany), ESA, ISRO (India), JAXA (Japan), NASA (United States), NSAU (Ukraine) and Roskosmos (Russia). The IADC also advises the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) which itself has 69 members. In 2002 the IADC drew up a list of principles laying down the basic rules to be applied and accepted by the agencies, based on three main recommendations: Keep clean; Don’t explode; Protect vital orbital regions.