Orbital Debris Overview
Orbital debris consists of human-made objects in space that no longer serve a useful function, including nonfunctional spacecraft, abandoned launch vehicle stages, mission-related debris, and fragmentation debris from breakups.
Orbital debris poses risks of collisions with satellites and spacecraft. Even small debris can cause major damage at impact velocities of 10 km/s or higher. Collisions can also generate more debris.
Potential consequences include damage or failures of critical satellites and spacecraft, danger to astronauts on spacewalks or in vehicles, generation of more debris through collisions, limited access to important orbits like LEO and GEO, and threats to space infrastructure.
Strategies to limit debris include passivation, deorbiting at end of life, avoiding explosions, limiting debris released during missions, and developing active debris removal technologies. International coordination is critical to preserve the space environment.
Key Organizations
NASA Orbital Debris Program Office (ODPO): Leads efforts to measure and model the orbital debris environment. Publishes the U.S. Government Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices.
Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC): International governmental forum that develops consensus guidelines for debris mitigation. Published IADC Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines.
United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA): Facilitates discussions on orbital debris issues at UN COPUOS. Endorsed UN Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines.
International Organization for Standardization (ISO): Develops international standards like ISO 24113 on space debris mitigation.
Best Practices Documents
U.S. Government Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices (ODMSP): U.S. government standard practices for limiting debris, updated in 2019. Covers design, accidental explosions, safe flight profiles, and disposal.
IADC Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines: International consensus guidelines endorsed by major space agencies. Covers debris release, accidental break-ups, post-mission disposal, and prevention of on-orbit collisions.
UN Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines: Reduced set of guidelines endorsed by UN General Assembly, drawing from IADC guidelines.
ISO 24113: International standard incorporating IADC, UN, and industry best practices on space debris mitigation.
Satellite Industry Best Practices: Recent best practices published by satellite operators such as Iridium, OneWeb, and SpaceX; and organizations like the World Economic Forum, SSC and others.
Summary
The key organizations are NASA ODPO, IADC, UNOOSA, and ISO. The main best practices documents are the ODMSP, IADC Guidelines, UN Guidelines, ISO 24113, and emerging satellite industry best practices.