Space debris and its threat to national security: a proposal for a binding international agreement to clean up the junk.

• Author: Imburgia, Joseph S.

ABSTRACT

In 2007, a Chinese anti-satellite missile destroyed an aging weather satellite, creating millions of pieces of space debris. In 2009, the collision of two satellites created thousands more. By 2010, more than 95 percent of all man-made objects in Earth's orbit were debris. Such a sudden and massive addition to the space debris environment since 2007 poses a direct threat to operational satellites and continued space access. This in turn threatens U.S. national security, to which space access and use is vital. Unfortunately, future increases in the number of space-faring nations and corresponding launches will only exacerbate this space debris threat. Some experts now fear that a chain reaction of space debris collisions threatening sustainable space access for centuries is unavoidable unless international action to minimize and remove the debris is soon taken. This Article argues that such international action should come in the form of a binding international space debris agreement, and puts forth the draft agreement at Annex A as a starting point for discussion.

TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION II. THE MEASURABLE PROBLEM OF SPACE DEBRIS A. The Cascade Effect B. The Problem Is Getting Worse 1. China's 2007 Intentional Obliteration of an Old Weather Satellite 2. Low Earth Orbit 3. Geosynchronous Earth Orbit 4. China Is Not the Only Culprit; Russia and the United States Are Also to Blame 5. The Problem with Models III. THE NATIONAL SECURITY IMPACT IV. THE HISTORICAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK A. Space Debris v. Air Debris B. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty C. The 1972 Liability Convention D. The 1975 Registration Convention V. UNITED NATIONS DRIVES NONBINDING FRAMEWORK TO DEAL WITH SPACE DEBRIS A. COPUOS Makes Space Debris an Agenda Item 1. STS Discusses Measurements of Space Debris 2. STS Discusses Space Debris Mitigation Measures B. COPUOS's 2007 Nonbinding Guidelines for Space Debris Mitigation C. UN General Assembly Adopts Nonbinding Mitigation Guidelines VI. COPUOS's LEGAL SUBCOMMITTEE MUST PROPOSE A BINDING AGREEMENT A. Cleaning Up the Junk B. Spreading the Cost to Fix the Problem C. Space Situational Awareness D. Enforcement Mechanisms VII. CONCLUSION ANNEX A [A]lthough the current hazard to most space activities from debris is low, growth in the amount of [space] debris threatens to make some valuable orbital regions increasingly inhospitable to space operations over the next few decades. Indeed, some experts at NASA believe that collisions between space assets and larger pieces of debris will remain rare only for the next decade, although there is ongoing discussion about this assessment. (1)

[D]ecades of space activity have littered Earth's orbit with debris; and as the world's space-faring nations continue to increase activities in space, the chance for a collision increases correspondingly. (2)

1. INTRODUCTION

   In 1986, the Soviet representative to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) "was of the view that the space debris problem affecting the space environment must be dealt with immediately." (3) Almost twenty-five years later, the international community still has not sufficiently dealt with the problem. Sadly, space debris continues to threaten the survivability of space-based assets and manned spaceflight. On March 12, 2009, space debris forced astronauts aboard the International Space Station to take shelter in an escape capsule out of fear that debris would collide with the station. (4) Based on the current space debris environment and the very real threat it poses, it is now time for the international community to heed the Soviet representative's advice and deal with the space debris problem. The solution to that problem needs to come in the form of a binding international agreement.

   Without a binding international agreement, the problem will only continue to worsen. According to scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), more than 5,500 tons of space debris orbited Earth in 2006. (5) Unfortunately, the space debris problem has worsened drastically in the years since. (6) During 2007, the explosion of a Russian rocket and the Chinese destruction of one of its own weather satellites during an anti-satellite (ASAT) mission created potentially millions of new pieces of space debris. (7) In February 2009, a collision between a defunct Russian communications satellite and a privately owned Iridium telecommunications satellite created possibly thousands more. (8) This recent creation of so much space debris is unprecedented, and the wreckage could soon damage or destroy other working satellites. (9)

   Such a sudden and massive addition to the space debris environment is cause for concern. In fact, some experts fear that we have reached the point that space is so cluttered with debris that a chain reaction of collisions, severely jeopardizing sustainable space access, is unavoidable unless international action is taken soon. (10) This Article argues that international action must be in the form of a binding international agreement on space debris. The agreement at Annex A provides a starting point for discussion.

   Without legal consequences, including appropriate international sanctions for treaty violations, little international influence exists to compel space-faring nations to find a viable solution to this problem. Moreover, space debris threatens the durability and survivability of the space assets on which the United States so heavily depends for its national security. (11) It is therefore in the United States' best interest to support a binding international agreement to deal with the removal and mitigation of space debris.

   To demonstrate the urgency of the problem and highlight the need for a binding international agreement on space debris, this Article first examines the amount of space debris currently in existence and the predictions for future additions. It then discusses the United States' reliance on the unhindered use of space for national security and demonstrates why a space debris threat to American space assets presents an immediate and serious concern to the United States. The Article then analyzes the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, (12) the 1972 Liability Convention, (13) and the 1975 Registration Convention (14) to show that these treaties are, by their terms, insufficient to deal with the space debris problem. Next, the Article illustrates why no other international agreement adequately addresses or demands the removal of space debris currently in Earth's orbit.

   Consequently, to better preserve and protect the national security interests of the United States by assuring access to space and the freedom to operate there, the United States must pursue a binding international agreement with real consequences, and it must persuade the international community to follow its lead. Definitions for both "space" and "space debris" are needed in such an agreement. Additionally, countries must be required to do at least three things: (1) minimize the creation of space debris; (2) make efforts to rid the space environment of the debris they create or have already created; and (3) notify each other when they cause space debris. The proposed agreement at Annex A addresses each of these issues. An agreement is necessary because of both the gloomy future presented by an unresolved space debris problem and the lack of adequate international law in this area.

2. THE MEASURABLE PROBLEM OF SPACE DEBRIS

   The phrase "space debris" is generally described as "a blanket term for any man-made artifact discarded, or accidentally produced, in space, either in orbit around a planetary body (when it is also known as orbital debris) or on a trajectory between planetary bodies." (15) Space debris typically consists of fragments of older satellites and rocket boosters resulting from explosions or collisions. (16) Space debris, however, also includes "dead satellites, spent rocket stages, a camera, a hand tool and junkyards of whirling debris left over from chance explosions and destructive tests." (17) In addition to the space debris created during the satellite collision of February 10, 2009, (18) some of the newest space debris includes a $100,000 set of grease guns and other tools that Space Shuttle Endeavour astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper lost during a space walk on November 19, 2008. (19)

   These recent additions to the space debris population intensify a problem that began on October 4, 1957, when the former Soviet Union launched the first satellite, Sputnik 1, into space. (20) Since that date, space-faring nations have launched objects into space at a frenetic pace. Those launches have, in turn, created a considerable amount of space debris. (21)

   In October 2010, Air Force Space Command's (AFSPC) Space Surveillance Network was tracking over 21,000 man-made objects orbiting Earth that were larger than ten centimeters. (22) Unfortunately, fewer than 5 percent of those 21,000 man-made objects are operational satellites; the rest are debris. (23) Even worse, scientists currently estimate "that there are over 300,000 objects with a diameter larger than one centimeter, and several million that are smaller," orbiting in space, and a large majority of these objects are man-made space debris. (24)

   Historically, explosions have been the biggest cause of space debris. (25) That fact, however, is about to change. Due to the amount of space debris that currently exists, several NASA computer "models predict that more [space] debris will be generated by collisions, rather than explosions, in the future." (26) As a result of this outer space clutter, Earth's orbital region has become, in just over fifty years, "the junkyard of the solar system." (27)

   This orbital junkyard is already hindering our utilization of outer space. In recent years, the vast amount of space debris has affected space launch schedules and caused in-space collision-avoidance...