Managing and Building Sustainability in Space is Still a Moving Target

Although new sustainable technologies are impacting space development like highly maneuverable spacecraft, repair ships, refueling depots, to name a few — the industry still faces uncertainty in terms of leadership on the guidelines for sustainability in space.

Richard DalBello, director of the Office of Space Commerce under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), kicked off a discussion on Tuesday at SATELLITE 2024, talking about the National Space Council’s ongoing work to move space traffic coordination and tracking from the Defense Department to the Commerce Department for civil and commercial satellites. “We're in the process of that now,” DalBello said. “We're very much in the process of building the next generation space traffic coordination system. And we will be relying heavily on our commercial partners in the U.S. and our allies and friends around the world who are building similar systems.”

In terms of sustainability, DalBello said, there is a need to understand the totality of the impact on areas of space and the surface of celestial bodies. “The question is not just space debris. It's also impact on terrestrial astronomy,” he said. “We're talking about launching and deorbiting tens of thousands of satellites. What is the impact of that activity? What will we do with nuclear waste? Is there any kind of effective remediation? That's something I'm sure we can discuss.”

Peter Davidson, vice president of Global Government Affairs and Policy for Intelsat, said that Intelsat takes the issue seriously. “We’ve been leading the way in a lot of space sustainability practices for many years,” he said. “We have safe and productive space in our DNA. And so we take it extremely seriously.”

Space situational awareness is critical, Davidson said. “As space becomes more crowded, and particularly in LEO [Low-Earth Orbit], I think we're going to have to work very hard on some of the things such as deorbiting satellites. Deorbit becomes more difficult as things get more crowded.”

Karl Kensinger, special counsel for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), said one of the key FCC rules is the licensing process, looking at debris mitigation plans that covers end of life for a satellite in space. It also covers some of the aspects of operations throughout the mission life, as well as some of the aspects of the design phases for spacecraft.

There was not a lot of a lot of interest and attention to sustainability issues 20 years ago, Kensinger said. “We have seen an overall compliance rate, with disposal get much better globally over the last twenty years. And we have seen some changes in the way operators in Low-Earth Orbit operate, such as how you can design a mission, and what’s a reasonable time to delete the satellite in orbit.”

Davidson said that he thinks the mindset about sustainability has changed in a relatively short period of time. “It has shifted from how do we actively fly satellites safely,” he said. “Now with the onset of the constellations such as Starlink, and with many of the satellites flying autonomously, the question of how constellations are talking to each other has become real in a way that it didn't earlier, when it seemed [like] science fiction only.”

The industry itself has come to the realization that it needs to talk about how to deal with some of these issues and some of the licensing procedures, Davidson said.

Some of that foundational work is already underway, DalBello said. “In New Zealand, they're actually using certain data that everyone can use to monitor whether people are acting in accordance with their license,” he said. “So as this new generation of tools comes online, with greater insight and with a greater ability to predict and to monitor, some of that will bleed over into more active regulation.

“I think we're still a little ways off on that,” DalBello said. “But as those technologies mature, it's going to give you the tool to make sure that people are good actors.”

There are ongoing challenges on the international level, with not just regulation but with coming up with guidelines, said Marlon Sorge, technical fellow for The Aerospace Corporation. “Technology is moving really quickly now, but the speed of negotiation has not increased,” he said. “It is definitely something that's difficult, particularly when you don't even know sometimes two or three years in advance what people are going to be capable of,” Sorge said.

Who is in charge of policy about space activities related to sustainability now? “If you'd asked someone five years ago who does space policy, they would have said it's the U.N. Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space,” DalBello said. “I think if you're asked that question today, it's unclear who's going to be making big policy, and which of those policies will ultimately be turned into domestic regulations. I think it's kind of an open question right now.”

DalBello also noted that as more and more reusable vehicles are being developed and companies are talking about doing return pods to the Earth, there has been a push back for the aviation industry to play a bigger, more substantive role in the control of the airspace and the upper airspace. “I think there's a lot of work for everyone to do,” he said. “You are going to see more hands in the mix before a few more years, from the U.S. government alone.” VS