US Federal Aviation Administration proposes revolutionary way to limit human litter in Earth's orbit

As humanity ventures out to the vast cosmos outside our planet, the space-junk we leave behind is growing.

Satellites, spacecraft and other launches all leave behind some junk littering the Earth's orbit, increasing the risk of collisions. To lighten this space-junk load, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed a rule.

Shedding the space-junk

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The FAA has proposed that the amount of time a private rocket's upper stages stay in orbit should be limited.

In a draft form released on Wednesday (September 20), the FAA, via its proposed rule, seeks "to limit the growth of new orbital debris and reduce the potential for collisions with spacecraft and satellites to promote a sustainable space environment."

Why is this important?

This junk can put space missions and satellite launches at significant risk. Upon launch, the space vehicles can potentially collide with the junk that is crowding the planet's orbit.

In a statement, the FAA said "If left unchecked, the accumulation of orbital debris will increase the risk of collisions and clutter orbits used for human spaceflight and for satellites providing communications, weather and global positioning system services."

As per the FAA, as of July 2023, the Earth's orbit contains over 23,000 orbital objects of sizes 10 cm and above. Furthermore, there are around one-half million objects sized between 1 and 10 cm, over 100 million larger than 1mm.

How will FAA achieve this junk shedding?

The proposed rule provides commercial space operators with five options to choose from. These options relate to the disposal of the upper stages of launch vehicles.

As per the FAA website, these include: conducting a controlled re-entry; moving the upper stage to a less congested storage or graveyard orbit; sending the upper stage to an Earth-escape orbit; the retrieval of the upper stage (called active debris removal) within five years; or performing an uncontrolled atmospheric disposal.

Strictly limiting the uncontrolled reentry of the upper stages can take away the uncertainty of where it might land. This will help mitigate the risk to people on the ground and in flight, says FAA.

"Shortening the removal deadline would decrease the risk of orbital debris causing damage to spacecraft, which could create more debris, shorten another spacecraft’s mission or endanger the lives of human spaceflight participants," states the proposed rule, as reported by space.com.

"Given that the entire mission lifetime of upper stages and their components is quite short, and spent upper stages pose a significant risk of debris propagation the longer they are in orbit, it may be appropriate to have a shorter disposal timeline of 5 years or another time period less than 25 years," it notes.

(With inputs from agencies)

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