The ORBITS Act demonstrates technology to remove dangerous orbital debris that has threatened astronauts, satellites and even hit a farm in Washington state.
washington dc – Yesterday Sen. Maria Cantwell (D.W.A.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, voted for Senators John Hickenlooper (Democrat Colorado), Cynthia Lumis (R-Wyoming), joined. Commission Ranking His member, Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), has a bipartisan bill to establish a first-of-its-kind demonstration program to reduce the amount of space debris in orbit. Introduce an Orbital Sustainability (ORBITS) method.
Space junk or orbital debris currently poses a threat to human space exploration, scientific research missions and emerging commercial space services. In March 2021, a large piece of space junk crashed into the grounds of a farm in Grant County, Washington.
“Including abandoned government satellites, more than 900,000 pieces of space junk pass over us every day.” Senator Cantwell said. “This bill will accelerate the development of the technology needed to remove the most dangerous junk before it destroys satellites, crashes into NASA missions, or falls to the ground and hurts someone. We must continue to explore space, and we must do so safely.”
“Our society depends on orbiting satellites, but space junk is an ever-growing threat.said Sen. Hickenlooper of the Space Science and Commerce Subcommittee. “Space debris endangers everything from global communications to advanced weather forecasting to human space exploration.”
“Space junk is not only dangerous to humans exploring space, it’s also a huge risk to the satellites on which people in Wyoming and across the country rely for basic communications.” I am proud to join my colleagues in introducing the ORBITS method to get started.” Senator Ramis, member of the Commerce Subcommittee on Space Science, said:
“The ORBITS Act addresses key aspects of the complex space debris problem and allows NASA to partner with the U.S. space industry on aggressive debris removal technologies to tackle the threat of space junk. It is a leading space tourism nation and I am delighted to join my colleagues in that effort.” Senator Wicker said.
The program will focus on researching, developing and demonstrating technologies that can safely perform active debris remediation (ADR) missions and activate new markets for these services. Washington state companies, including Seattle-based satellite servicer Starfish Space, advocate accelerating efforts to clear space debris. Other Washington companies, such as SpaceX, Amazon’s Kuiper Systems, and Stoke Space Technologies, are also exploring new ways to prevent debris from accumulating or threatening space in the first place. More than 1,300 Washington companies are involved in the aerospace industry.
There are currently about 8,000 tons of debris in orbit, including at least 900,000 individual pieces, potentially deadly for the satellite. Given the current size of debris, preventing future debris growth is not enough.
The full text of the ORBITS Act is available here.
The Orbital Sustainability (ORBITS) Act contains the following provisions:
- Directs NASA, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Space and Commerce (“OSC”), and the National Space Council to publish a list of debris that poses the greatest risk to spacecraft orbits.
- Establish a NASA program to demonstrate debris removal from orbit to accelerate the development of the necessary technology.
- Encourage consistent orbital debris control by initiating multi-agency updates to existing orbital debris standards that apply to government systems.When
- We request the OSC, with the National Space Council and the Federal Communications Commission, to encourage the development of practices for coordinating space traffic that will help avoid debris-producing collisions.
