Case for Space Debris Removal
History / Engineering / Law & Policy
Outer space has been utilized for scientific discovery by many organizations around the
world for over half a century, which has led to technological advancements that presently
provide society with many everyday benefits including GPS, weather forecasting, and methods
of telecommunication. Although we enjoy these services as part of our modern way of life, they,
just like many other space activities, come at a cost to the space environment in the form of
traffic, accessibility, and arguably the most dangerous: debris. Several pieces of science fiction
have envisioned a future where Earth becomes encased in a dense layer of artificial space debris
resulting from humanity’s careless use of outer space. Despite this exaggerated and fictitious
scenario, debris in space remains an issue that poses a constant threat to current and future
activities in space. To prevent this threat from worsening, debris minimizing guidelines and
policies have been established internationally. When exploring the history that inspired these
regulations, their importance can be fully realized as well as approaches to removing debris from
the space environment to keep its utilization sustainable.
October 4th, 1957 marked the beginning of the space age and the first pieces of artificial
debris in space with the launch of the Russian satellite Sputnik I (the satellite and its rocket
stage). This revealed to the United States Air Force the need for keeping surveillance on objects
in orbit, which led to the creation of Project Space Track, the beginnings of the first domestic
tracking system for all artificial satellites and probes orbiting Earth. Located at Hanscom Field in
Bedford, Massachusetts and later known as the National Space Surveillance Control Center
(NSSCC), Space Track was the first formalized effort by the U.S. to catalog satellites (Hoots et
, al., 2004). Original observations for this effort were collected from over 150 sites including
telescopes, radio receivers, Baker-Nunn cameras, and participants of the Operation Moonwatch
program (amateur astronomers). The observations were then sent to the NSSCC, via telephone,
teletype, mail, or personal messenger, where an analyst would reduce the data and provide
corrections to orbital elements for accurate orbital predictions (Hoots et al., 2004).
During the 1960s, space debris numbers rose significantly as a result of more space
launches (U.S. and Soviet Union competing in the space race), old rocket stages exploding from
leftover propellant, and many U.S. and Soviet Union anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon tests which
sought out to destroy satellites, deliberately creating debris. In the beginning of the decade, the
foundation set by Space Track and the NSSCC was improved through the development of the
Space Detection and Tracking System (SPADATS) operated by the North American Air Defense
(NORAD, now known as the North American Aerospace Defense Command) (Weeden &
Cefola, 2010). Although debris numbers in this database at the time were steadily rising (as well
as the amount of small untraceable pieces), NORAD saw them more then triple on June 28,
1961, with the explosion of a U.S. Able Star rocket stage, which was the first known artificial
object to break up unintentionally in space. The cause of the explosion was unknown and
produced at least 294 trackable pieces of debris with a majority remaining in orbit for decades
afterwards (Portree & Loftus, 1999).
Further advancing the space debris discussion in the rapidly developing industry, Donald
Kessler and Burton Cour-Palais from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) published an influential paper on June 1, 1978, that proposed a theoretical scenario
where collisions in space would no longer be dependent on new space launches, but rather result
from the densely polluted space environment alone. This phenomenon would create a cascading
History / Engineering / Law & Policy
Outer space has been utilized for scientific discovery by many organizations around the
world for over half a century, which has led to technological advancements that presently
provide society with many everyday benefits including GPS, weather forecasting, and methods
of telecommunication. Although we enjoy these services as part of our modern way of life, they,
just like many other space activities, come at a cost to the space environment in the form of
traffic, accessibility, and arguably the most dangerous: debris. Several pieces of science fiction
have envisioned a future where Earth becomes encased in a dense layer of artificial space debris
resulting from humanity’s careless use of outer space. Despite this exaggerated and fictitious
scenario, debris in space remains an issue that poses a constant threat to current and future
activities in space. To prevent this threat from worsening, debris minimizing guidelines and
policies have been established internationally. When exploring the history that inspired these
regulations, their importance can be fully realized as well as approaches to removing debris from
the space environment to keep its utilization sustainable.
October 4th, 1957 marked the beginning of the space age and the first pieces of artificial
debris in space with the launch of the Russian satellite Sputnik I (the satellite and its rocket
stage). This revealed to the United States Air Force the need for keeping surveillance on objects
in orbit, which led to the creation of Project Space Track, the beginnings of the first domestic
tracking system for all artificial satellites and probes orbiting Earth. Located at Hanscom Field in
Bedford, Massachusetts and later known as the National Space Surveillance Control Center
(NSSCC), Space Track was the first formalized effort by the U.S. to catalog satellites (Hoots et
, al., 2004). Original observations for this effort were collected from over 150 sites including
telescopes, radio receivers, Baker-Nunn cameras, and participants of the Operation Moonwatch
program (amateur astronomers). The observations were then sent to the NSSCC, via telephone,
teletype, mail, or personal messenger, where an analyst would reduce the data and provide
corrections to orbital elements for accurate orbital predictions (Hoots et al., 2004).
During the 1960s, space debris numbers rose significantly as a result of more space
launches (U.S. and Soviet Union competing in the space race), old rocket stages exploding from
leftover propellant, and many U.S. and Soviet Union anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon tests which
sought out to destroy satellites, deliberately creating debris. In the beginning of the decade, the
foundation set by Space Track and the NSSCC was improved through the development of the
Space Detection and Tracking System (SPADATS) operated by the North American Air Defense
(NORAD, now known as the North American Aerospace Defense Command) (Weeden &
Cefola, 2010). Although debris numbers in this database at the time were steadily rising (as well
as the amount of small untraceable pieces), NORAD saw them more then triple on June 28,
1961, with the explosion of a U.S. Able Star rocket stage, which was the first known artificial
object to break up unintentionally in space. The cause of the explosion was unknown and
produced at least 294 trackable pieces of debris with a majority remaining in orbit for decades
afterwards (Portree & Loftus, 1999).
Further advancing the space debris discussion in the rapidly developing industry, Donald
Kessler and Burton Cour-Palais from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) published an influential paper on June 1, 1978, that proposed a theoretical scenario
where collisions in space would no longer be dependent on new space launches, but rather result
from the densely polluted space environment alone. This phenomenon would create a cascading
