Frederick Tarantino, SAF/SQS
Keywords: international, debris, Outer Space Treaty, law, policy
Abstract:
The space community is investing in technological innovation to mitigate and reduce space debris from impacting global infrastructure. However, the current international framework and levels of collaboration are not keeping up with the demand to jointly combat space debris. Working with the existing laws and treaties, what international policy and cooperation must be enabled to allow for the technical solutions to adequately address space debris?
The US should propose an international summit and agreement to submit space debris reduction targets, goals, and plans, within the confines of the Outer Space Treaty (OST), to energize forward looking accountability, and incentivize industry support. Furthermore, the US should establish an Active Debris Removal (ADR) inter-agency office to support commercial and government ADR through domestic and international regulations and coordination.
This policy is modeled after the hybrid-legal structure of the Paris Agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Treaty, and will ensure continued access to space by:
Generating broad, global participation essential for debris prevention, mitigation, and removal;
Enabling nation-drive contributions that allow governments to consider their varying degrees of responsibility;
Supporting emerging economies pursuing space capabilities, while flattening the risk curve through moderate ADR investment; and,
Creating financial and recognition-based incentives through legalized transparency and reporting of government and commercial goals on a public stage.
Space debris is a topic that political parties, and countries can find common ground on. The international community is amid a historical convergence of interest in space debris as a public bad. The Paris Agreement model allows for iterative and bottom-up solutions to the problem and may be a pathfinder for future, surprising forms of collaboration across countries and political lines.
A summit and agreement on space debris can operate as soft law within the already existing OST. This approach is useful because the same hybrid-legal structure found in the Paris Agreement permits executive action and a pragmatic concession which makes the process legally binding, not the obligations. The framework also shows a mechanism for modernizing the OST to consider the technology, and evolution of space as a global common to space as a competitive and opportunistic entity.
Furthermore, an interagency group to support ADR agreements will support organizations navigating the regulatory environment and provide top-cover for industry investment. ADR is pivotal to removing the most worthwhile, derelict sets of debris to flatten the curve in space debris proliferation.
By looking at the international legal landscape, and examining global justice, the space community can ensure continued access to space.
Date of Conference: September 27-20, 2022
Track: Space Debris