ALBERT MEDINA: THE ELEPHANT IN EARTH'S ORBIT: OUR INTERNATIONAL SPACE DEBRIS CRISIS

Many of you may not be aware of this tremendous space-related issue, but here it is in a nutshell: There are now well over 21,000 pieces of man-made space debris (ie satellites/leftover rocket boosters/etc.) traveling tens of thousands of miles per hour in Earth's orbit. As more and more space debris inevitably crash into one another, or explode due to leftover fuel, current levels of space debris will exponentially increase over the next century or so. In fact, we've already passed a threshold such that even if nobody on Earth launched anything else into space for the rest of eternity, the current level of space debris would still dramatically increase over time.

So, if we don't actively start mitigating and/or reducing this exponentially-increasing number soon, then in one hundred or so years it may be next to impossible for mankind to safely leave Earth's atmosphere to explore the cosmos. To prevent this, the world basically has to implement a plan soon whereby large levels of both past and future space debris need to be consistently reentering the Earth's atmosphere and burning up as time goes on. This, of course, is obviously no easy task.

Fortunately for us though, there have already been plenty of plausible ideas and possible solutions floating around the international realm concerning effective "rendezvous and proximity operations" (RPO) and "on-orbit satellite servicing" (OOS) activities. To clarify, these RPO/OOS-based ideas and possible solutions are geared towards both "mitigation" (making sure all future space debris is designed to cause themselves to reenter Earth's atmosphere) and "reduction" (mankind actively causing old space debris to reenter Earth's atmosphere). Examples of such plausible methods can be found in the following two Youtube videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGfU2u1__OI / http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aoow-t7qu7k.

Nevertheless, given this enormous predicament and the sheer magnitude of technology and resources necessary to even put a dent in it, there is simply no way that one space-faring state can address it on its own. That said, it is therefore imperative that the international community of states band together to come up with a long-term solution of space-debris mitigation and reduction; however, herein lies the problem.....a legal one at that.

As recently stated by the Secure World Foundation/Space Generation Advisory Council: "The current international space law framework is not even in a position to effectively deal with issue of space debris creation and mitigation. Moreover, space debris are not even mentioned in Article IX of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (Outer Space Treaty), entered in force in 1967, which provides for protection of the space environment. The lack of definition makes it impossible to recognize which objects can be removed. However, even if we were able to make such a distinction, removal would have been complicated due to international regulations that apply to space objects. Art III of the Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects (Liability Convention), ratified in 1972, establishes that, '[i]n the event of damage being caused elsewhere than on the surface of the earth to a space object of one launching State or to persons or property on board such a space object by a space object of another launching State, the latter shall be liable only if the damage is due to its fault or the fault of persons for whom it is responsible.' Further analysis of the Liability Convention also helps to understand that there is no legal provision, which imposes any clear obligation upon the states to prevent space debris creation or to undertake mitigation measures."

If that wasn't enough to dampen your spirits, the Secure World Foundation/Space Generation Advisory Council also go on to clarify, based on current international space law, that: "[i]f during active debris removal (ADR) attempts any damage is caused to a third party, the launching state of the company carrying out the ADR will be held liable and will be required to pay a compensation to claimant state. This reimbursement is a condition of a license issued to private companies. ADR is risky because of the crowded environment and lack of space situational awareness as well as traffic management capabilities, therefore [the use of such a condition in these licenses] is highly discouraging. The present international space law conventions and instruments fail in creating a legal regime for ADR, and even the relatively new Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines fail in clearly providing for a legal regime, which would impose responsibility upon the states to undertake responsibility for the creation of space debris."

That said, here's the bottom line: Mankind absolutely needs to do something about the ever-increasing levels of space debris orbiting the Earth, but there is no international legal framework that can either meaningfully enforce, allow for or even encourage active debris removal on a global basis.

In spite of this, and on a slightly more positive note, there presently exist other international legal frameworks (such as the Law of the Sea) that could likely serve as a foundation/model from which to build up a new international space law regime. Nevertheless, this still doesn't change the main underlying problem: We still don't have such an international space-law framework set up, and it looks like we're a long way away from achieving that.

Thus, at least from a legal standpoint, I share the same opinion as that of the Secure World Foundation/Space Generation Advisory Council as to what has to specifically be done in the very near future. For one, the international community needs to agree on a shared legal definition of what "space debris" actually is. This has to be done for the sake of enabling space faring states and parties to proceed with the rapid uniform development of practices and technologies needed to conduct ADR. In addition, the international community needs to form a pro-active international legal regime geared towards envisaging a public private partnership method of responsibility sharing. This needs to be done for the purpose of reducing the current "chilling effect" that present international space law has with regard to ADR-based liability.

Lofty goals aside, the legal issues discussed above (and other equally-significant technical, economic and political hurdles) need to be effectively resolved before the international community can even begin to tackle our space debris crisis. If we as a global community fail to start this mission soon, however, then we could all be looking at an unsustainable orbital space environment in the years to come.

With that in mind, I emphatically believe that it's high time for us space law enthusiasts out there to really start stepping things up.

*If you would like to delve deeper into this topic, then here are two fantastic articles (both presented at the 64th International Astronautical Congress in Bejing, China by the Secure World Foundation/Space Generation Advisory Council in September 2013) that intricately outline the space-debris dilemma in its entirety, as well as the corresponding international legal implications, in much more detail: http://swfound.org/media/119601/IAC-13-E3.4.7-Paper.pdf / http://swfound.org/media/119724/IAC-13,A6,8,1,x18123_TC.pdf.