NASA Finds Cheaper Ways To Handle Space Junk, Improving Orbital Safety

NASA and its partners have discovered more economical ways to deal with the growing problem of space debris, which might completely change how we guarantee the security of our orbital environment.

This discovery results from a new report released by NASA's Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS), which provides the latest information on quantifying and reducing the dangers associated with orbital debris.

A New Approach to Measuring Space Debris Risks

As human activity in space continues to increase, Charity Weeden, chief of NASA's OTPS, stressed the significance of comprehending and managing orbital debris. "Increased activity in Earth's orbit has enhanced our communications and climate monitoring capabilities," she stated. "However, it also leads to a more crowded space environment. This study is part of NASA's ongoing efforts to better comprehend this environment through an economic lens, as outlined in NASA's Space Sustainability Strategy."

This new research, "Cost and Benefit Analysis of Mitigating, Tracking, and Remediating Orbital Debris," is the second stage of OTPS's endeavor to address the financial and technical obstacles related to space debris. Policymakers received early cost-benefit analyses of different remediation solutions, including moving, eliminating, or repurposing space debris, in the first report released in 2023.

This latest research improves these estimates to provide more precise evaluations of the threats presented by debris ranging from huge, defunct satellites to millimeter-sized bits. It also expands the scope to cover tactics for improving the tracking of already-existing waste and stopping the production of new waste.

Jericho Locke, a NASA analyst and the report's lead author, emphasized the importance of the new approach. He explained that quantifying economic risks makes it possible to compare different strategies directly, such as shielding spacecraft versus tracking smaller debris or removing a few large pieces versus many smaller ones.

This economic modeling aids in identifying the most cost-effective actions to mitigate debris risks. This paper stands out primarily because it estimates the financial hazards associated with space debris directly instead of using proxies like the number of debris particles.

It also evaluates the expenses of navigating spacecraft to dodge debris, handling close encounters, and fixing or replacing damaged spacecraft. The study also models the possible evolution of the orbital debris environment in the next thirty years.

Economical Techniques for Managing Space Debris

The paper examines and contrasts more than ten distinct approaches to lower the risks associated with debris, such as detecting smaller junk, protecting spacecraft, and eliminating huge debris. The investigation questions conventional wisdom regarding practical strategies for promoting space sustainability.

For example, it discovered that rapidly deorbiting abandoned spacecraft can drastically lower hazards and that specific debris repair techniques can be just as helpful as debris mitigation. The report's conclusions should impact NASA's management and the larger space community by creating more sensible space debris management plans.

To encourage more cooperation and creativity, OTPS also intends to make the research code utilized in the study available to the general public. The increasing amount of space debris, which ranges in size from huge, abandoned satellites to minute pieces, puts both robotic and crewed spacecraft at serious risk.

This debris has the potential to endanger astronaut safety, raise operating costs, and damage or destroy satellites. Historically, policymakers' decision-making was complicated by the lack of clarity about the costs and advantages of different debris reduction and repair measures.

NASA's OTPS seeks to provide more precise advice on the best economic approaches to deal with this urgent problem by offering a thorough economic analysis. The ultimate objective is to create an ideal range of measures that can lessen the risks brought about by orbital debris, guaranteeing the continuous safe and sustainable use of space.