Comparison of national space debris mitigation standards

• Published in: Advances in space research Vol. 28; no. 9; pp. 1447 - 1456
• Main Author: Kato, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2001
• ISSN: 0273-1177; 1879-1948
• DOI: 10.1016/S0273-1177(01)00449-5

Several national organizations of the space faring nations have established Space Debris Mitigation Standards or Handbooks to promote efforts to deal with the space debris issue. This paper introduces the characteristics of each document and compares the structure, items and level of requirements. The contents of these standards may be slightly different from each other but the fundamental principles are almost the same; they are (1) prevention of on-orbit breakups, (2) removal of mission terminated spacecraft from the useful orbit regions, and (3) limiting the objects released during normal operations. The Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee has contributed considerably to this trend. The Committee also found out by its recent survey that some commercial companies have begun to adopt the debris mitigation measures for their projects. However, the number of organizations that have initiated this kind of self-control is still limited, so the next challenge of the Committee is to promote the Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines world-wide. IADC initiated this project in October 1999 and a draft is being circulated among the member agencies.