A new data analysis suggests that NASA and its partners may have discovered more cost-effective ways to deal with the worsening problem of space debris than previously thought.
NASA's Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy (OTPS) has released a new report that provides agency managers with new insights into how to measure the risks posed by space debris.
"The increased activity in Earth orbit has brought us many benefits, from faster terrestrial communication to a better understanding of climate change," said Charity Weeden, director of OTPS. "The result of these burgeoning opportunities is a denser space environment. This research is part of NASA's activity to rapidly improve our understanding of this environment, as described in NASA's recently published Space Sustainability Strategy, by applying an economic lens to this critical issue."
The report, "Cost and Benefit Analysis of Reducing, Tracking, and Handling Space Debris", is the second phase of OTPS' activity to address the technical and economic uncertainty related to space debris.
The OTPS Phase I report, published in 2023, provided the initial information to policymakers who wanted a cost-benefit analysis of measures to deal with space debris, including moving, disposing of, or reusing objects. The new report improved the quality of the estimates of the risks that space debris poses to spacecraft. These new estimates include everything from the largest debris in space to fragments the size of millimeters. The report also expands the focus of OTPS teams and includes actions that can reduce new waste generation and track existing waste.
"This research allows us to begin to answer the question of what are the most cost-effective actions we can take to address the growing problem of space debris," said NASA analyst Jericho Locke, lead author of the report. "By measuring everything in dollars, we can directly compare between protecting spacecraft and tracking small debris or between disposing of 50 large pieces of debris and disposing of 50,000 small pieces."
The new OTPS report differs from other studies on space debris in that it directly estimates the risk posed by space debris, instead of estimating surrogate risks such as the number of pieces of debris in space. In addition, the risks are measured in dollars - modeling the costs that operators will bear due to spacecraft maneuvering to avoid debris, dealing with close approaches and damage or loss due to collision with debris. The study simulates how the space debris environment will develop over 30 years.
In total, the study compares the cost-effectiveness of more than ten different actions that can be taken to reduce the risk from space debris, such as shielding, tracking small debris or handling large debris. Ultimately, the team hopes to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of combinations of different operations, known as portfolios.
For the full report on the NASA website
More of the topic in Hayadan:
Comments
I read the original report, and it seems to me that the article here misses the main proposals, including the implementation of built-in mechanisms for disposing of spacecraft at the end of their active life.
And the conclusions?