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Contents of this page:

Review the below videos to better understand the orbital debris problem.


Deeper learning can be found on our Papers page, which contains supporting PDF documents that include:

· OrbitGuardians’ Papers,

· Congressional Brief materials, 

· Industry Papers (related to orbital debris), and

· OrbitGuardians’ Published Articles

Papers

Visual Scope of Problem

Video #1 - This short video depicts the space debris population of various sizes.

  • Keep in mind, that a 1 cm debris object, traveling at 7.5 km/sec, packs the energy equal to a hand grenade.  Imagine that going off inside your refrigerator.
  • Today, 100M+ objects have been placed into orbit over 6,000 missions.  By the year 2029 (per FCC spectrum applications), there are expected to be 107,000 additional spacecraft, which extrapolates to ~1.8 trillion new debris objects.

Orbital Debris Endangers GPS / GNSS

Video #2 - Our GPSWorld Article described how GPS (and other navigation systems) are also endangered.

  • The below video shows over 4,000 objects that reside or pass through the MEO neighborhood (the video is no longer attached to the article).
  • While the probability of MEO debris damage is lower than in LEO, experts have reported that the consequences could impact GDP by $1B/day.
  • Additionally, the Galileo constellation executed an avoidance maneuver in 2021, demonstrating that the threat is real.

Anomaly Case Study

Video #3 - Details a real world case study for an unlucky large satellite operator:

  • A publicly traded satellite communications operator tragically suffered what experts call a debris collision
  • The uninsured satellite sprung a propellant leak, which shortened its life by 15 years
  • As a result, investor revenue went down $678M across 2Q19 & 3Q19, cost $382M to replace satellite, and caused a $200M sales backlog reduction.  Total service restoration cost =  $1.26 billion.  Ouch!  Take a look below.

Debris Problem

Video #4 - Broadly describes the space debris problem.

NASA Recommendation

The NASA Orbital Debris Program Office further states the danger of small space debris:  

  • "Remediation techniques need to focus on removal of small sized (but still damaging) debris"
  • "Current conjunction assessments and collision avoidance maneuvers against the tracked objects (which are typically 10 cm and larger) only address a small fraction (<1%) of the mission-ending risk from orbital debris"

Which space-based services are at risk?

Internet

Financial

Internet Services

The backbone of today's economy relies upon computer broadband network operations, which rely heavily upon the timing functions provided by satellites.

Financial

Financial

Financial Services

Stock markets, banks, ATMs, point-of-sale transactions, and mobile banking rely heavily upon timing functions provided by satellites.

Transportation

Earth observation

Transportation Services

Transportation, whether air, maritime, or automotive, all rely upon location and navigation functions provided by satellites.

Earth observation

Earth observation

Earth observation

Weather reports, land surveys to monitor crop health, illegal logging, global ice cover, and military surveillance all rely upon satellites.

Communication

Earth observation

Communication

Mobile phones, TV, data, video conferencing, amateur radio, and military messaging rely upon satellites.

Power

Earth observation

Communication

Electricity transmission and networks that balance demand rely upon satellites.

Space, science, exploration

Space, science, exploration

Space, science, exploration

Space telescopes, space stations, and soon space tourism all require a sustainable space environment that is maintained in order to avoid collisions with space debris.

You noticed it, right?

That's right.  All the above space-based services rely upon satellites.  More on that coming up on the learning page.  Space debris has been a topic of great debate since 1978.  Substantial time and money has been spent to define the scale of the problem.  Numerous studies, reports, hearings, policy, best practices, articles, and even Hollywood movies, have propelled space debris into the limelight of today’s environmentally conscience ecosystem. 


Humanity has spent billions of dollars implementing our now vital orbital satellite infrastructure.  Yet, the cost of today’s technology makes the cleanup of our orbital environment painfully high.  Until now.


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