Tracking Space Junk Should Be an International Effort

According to a US military official, the task of tracking down the massive number of debris in low-Earth orbit should not be the responsibility of a single nation, but rather of all countries capable of using such monitoring technology.

The expert also added that the private sector should be involved as well, given that it too operates satellites in orbit, and is subjected to the same launch limitations and space junk impact risk as spacecraft sent by national space agencies.

At this time, it is estimated that about 22,000 pieces of space junk are being tracked by specialized radars. All missions launching to space have a chance of getting hit by these objects, or by others too small to be detected from the ground.

The need of cleaning up the planet's surroundings has become imperious recently, but, until the technology is put together to do so, constant monitoring of dangerous objects remains our only viable way of defense against disaster

At this time, the United States does not have the necessary power to underlie the entire planet's space situational awareness (SSA) capabilities. Countries need to work together to avoid orbital mishaps.

This is the opinion of US Strategic Command's Joint Functional Component Command for Space commander, Lt. Gen. Susan Helms, Space reports. She expressed her beliefs at the Sixth Annual Ilan Ramon International Space Conference in Tel Aviv, Israel.

“We must partner with other nations and enterprises to achieve mutually beneficial goals, and at the top of our priorities is the development of comprehensive SSA,” Helms told attendants at the meeting.

In June 2010, President Barack Obama launched the renewed US National Space Policy, which also calls for space debris monitoring and removal. Scientists around the world are now trying to develop the best-suited technology to ensure the completion of this objective.

There are currently more than 60 nations around the world with operations in orbit, and they too should be involved in making sure that LEO remains safe for current operations, as well as for the launch of interplanetary missions.

“It directs us to collaborate with other nations, the private-sector and intergovernmental organizations to improve our space situational awareness – specifically to enhance our shared ability to rapidly detect, warn of, characterize and attribute natural and man-made disturbances to space systems,” Helms concludes.

The take-away message from all of this is that international SSA capabilities need to be augmented as much as possible, and fast, analysts say.