Space debris removal deadline cut to five years by FCC

Decommissioned satellites must be removed from Earth orbit According to new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules, “as soon as practicable within five years of the end of the mission.”

The Commissioners voted 4 to 0 to adopt the draft Regulations and publish them Earlier this month, it concerns all spacecraft that reach the end of their life in orbit below 2,000 km (1,242 miles) altitude. The rule applies to satellites launched two years after the order was adopted, and includes both U.S.-licensed satellites and satellites licensed by other jurisdictions seeking access to the U.S. market. increase. Satellites already in space are exempt.

Previous voluntary NASA guidelines published in the 1990s allowed operators to wait 25 years for satellite removal, a timeline many experts consider too long. is.

“Twenty-five years is a long time. There’s no reason to wait that long,” FCC Chairman Jessica Rosenworsel said at a meeting on Thursday, noting that much of the space junk currently in orbit dates back to the 1950s.

At this time, estimates suggest that there are over 100 million space junks orbiting Earth. They come in a variety of sizes, from pennies to entire rocket boosters.

The proposal arose as the number of satellites in low earth orbit (LEO) is expected to increase dramatically over the next few years. With contributions from companies like SpaceX, Amazon and OneWeb, there could be as many as 18,000 new satellites on Earth by 2025. To date, Elon Musk’s SpaceX alone has launched about 3,000 satellites into space for Starlink, his service for the space-based internet.

The FCC proposal states, “We believe it is no longer sustainable to leave satellites in LEO and take them out of orbit for decades.”

“It’s not just the $279 billion annual satellite and launch industry and the jobs that depend on it that are at risk. Opportunities may be lost in areas of

The FCC has a two-year grace period starting Sept. 29, 2022, to allow organizations that previously had approval for future satellite launch timings to develop plans to dispose of the spacecraft. FCC says NASA has a five-year limit cubesat mission.

As the amount of spacecraft sent into space increases, the potential for falling space debris to harm people and other spacecraft increases. A recent study published in natural astronomy Deduced that falling rocket and satellite parts could pass through the Earth’s atmosphere and found them there The odds of one or more casualties from space debris over the next decade are 1 in 10.

In May 2021, the International Space Station (ISS) will Hit by a piece of space junk A good amount was extracted from the 17 m long robotic arm. In November The ISS was forced to change its orbit to avoid some of the now-defunct Chinese satellites that were headed for a collision course.

This regulation will allow the European Commission to mitigate this risk before it becomes a crisis while supporting a more sustainable space sector.

“Thousands of new satellites are launched each year and replenished every 5, 10 or 15 years, but if it takes 25 years to disappear after a mission is completed, the rate of debris accumulation increases rapidly. and will probably be unsustainable,” wrote Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. Statement accompanying the news. “With this order, we take a practical step forward in reducing the time to end LEO to less than five years, a timeframe that we know is easily achievable.”

The FCC’s plans said the rules could create “conflicting guidance,” citing questions about the FCC’s authority to regulate orbital debris and concerns about a lack of coordination with other agencies. questioned by some U.S. lawmakers.

but, Criticism was not enough to change the opinion of lawmakers, and all voted to approve the motion.

Over the past few years, there has been considerable debate among space agencies, lawmakers and the private sector about how to approach space debris problempolicy proposal ( Introduction of track usage fees) to high-tech aggressive space cleanup (using satellites to arm nail,Net, magnet and other devices).

To address the space junk issue, tThe European Space Agency is planning a mission to try to capture and remove space junk. The United Nations issued a set of space debris mitigation guidelines in 2010, which were subsequently strengthened in 2018.

In contrast to the proposed FCC rules, the UN guidelines are not legally binding and do not specify how mitigation activities should be conducted or managed.