An estimated 6,000 tons of space debris circulate in LEO, and active satellites jumped from 2,000 to 5,000 over the last five years — with thousands more planned. SATELLITE 2022’s “The Great LEO Congestion Debate” session examined what must be done.
Dr. Brian Weeden of Secure World Foundation, the moderator, noted that both commercial and government sectors plan tens of thousands of additional satellites, raising collision risk dramatically.
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Darren McKnight, senior technical fellow for LeoLabs, said constellations are “the victim” rather than the cause: “Everybody wants to focus on constellations. I’m going to say they’re the victim.” He pointed to lethal non-trackable debris as the true threat, including fragments from the 2009 Iridium-Cosmos collision that still circulate a decade later.
Samuel Peterson of the Swedish Space Corporation showed how a single 1mm piece of debris damaged a solar panel on Copernicus Sentinel-1A in 2016.
Tobias Nassif of the Space Data Association said guidelines must be updated: “Most satellite operators are in compliance with the guidelines but those guidelines aren’t going to help with putting up satellites and replenishing satellites.”
Jessica Noble of NanoRacks noted that international treaties do provide a framework, and satellite operators often cooperate even when nations don’t speak to each other. McKnight urged action over study: “The ‘study, wait and hope’ approach is for the ’90s. We need to monitor, characterize and track.” VS
