CHAPTER 4: DURABILITY OF SPACE OPERATIONS: THE ISSUE OF ORBITAL DEBRIS

Abstract

The rapid evolution of the number of orbital debris since the beginning of the space age raises numerous problems today, mainly linked to the risk to populations due to uncontrolled atmospheric reentries, and to on-orbit collisions; such collisions may kill very precious satellites, but also regenerate swarms of new debris poten-tially triggering an ever increasing number of space objects in the coming years. To counter these projections, a set of standards has been prepared at international level, but it is far from being properly complied to, yet. The upcoming new space activities, “Space 4.0”, with the foreseen launch of thousands of new satellites, imposes new actions to be taken rapidly, coordinated among all space actors, in order to guarantee a sustainable evolution of the orbital activities, so vital in our daily lives for environment, telecommunications, navigation, aso.