Space Debris: Legal issues surrounding remediation

Desperately seeking Technical solutions to the orbital debris problem, like the Swiss CleanSpace One, also require changes to the legal regime. (credit: EPFL)

Space debris is considered by many to be the most prominent issue in the arena of outer space security and safety.

More than a half-century of space activities by the various spacefaring nations have left a debris environment that is self-perpetuating and threatens to render the outer space environment useless, particularly in low Earth orbit.



Space debris ranges in size from fragments less than a millimeter in diameter to complete spacecraft many meters across. The nature of this debris includes intact satellites, rocket bodies, fragments from exploded rocket bodies, fragments from collisions, and objects from extracurricular activities.

Addressing the issue of space debris is two-fold. First, there is mitigation, which through practices by space-faring nations such the space debris mitigation guidelines promulgated by the UN.

These guidelines are not binding upon member states of the UN and only a few of the spacefaring nations have implemented them as mandatory requirements into their space programs.

However, remediation or removal of existing space debris is another matter, and the methodologies of which are still in its infancy and face substantial technical, financial and political hurdles. Additionally, space debris remediation also faces major legal issues.

The purpose of this essay is to attempt to identify and briefly discuss some of those legal challenges and their potential solutions, including a definition of space debris that could facilitate space debris remediation. This essay is should not be considered and exhaustive discussion on the topic.

The most prominent issue surrounding cleanup of orbital space debris rests with Article VIII of the Outer Space Treaty, in which space objects, including nonfunctioning satellites and other space debris, continue to belong to the country or countries that launched them.

There is no right of salvage analogous to the right found in maritime law, which means that even though a satellite or some other space object may not be functioning, it does not imply that it has been abandoned by the nation that launched it.

Without consent from the nation that launched and operates or otherwise owns the satellite or space object, it cannot be disposed of or otherwise interfered with.

This is further complicated by the fact that international space law deems fragments and components from space objects as individual space objects in and of themselves, which would require identification to determine the owner and either individual or blanket consent to remove it from orbit.

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