Quentin Verspieren, The University of Tokyo
Keywords: Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices; Compliance; US Air Force
Abstract:
The US Government Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices (ODMSP) are a set of technical guidelines established to provide guidance on the mitigation of debris generation during normal operations and accidental explosions, on the avoidance of on-orbit collision, and on post-mission disposal. Based on previous NASA guidelines, they were adopted in 2001 and revised in late 2019 with the addition of a fifth part with considerations on large constellations, proximity operations, on-orbit servicing, etc. They serve as the principal debris-related requirements of space activities subjected to the supervision and control of the US government as explicitly required in the National Space Policy of 28 June 2010. The latter however authorizes the approval of exceptions to the ODMSP by the head of the agency sponsoring the space activities. In the case of the US Air Force, waivers should be requested by the Secretary of the Air Force to the Secretary of Defense. By delegation, the Deputy Secretary of Defense then evaluates the proposal and decides whether to grant the waiver or not. Any approval should be notified to the Secretary of State. This paper investigates the attribution of waivers to the US Air Force during the last decade. In other words: since the enactment of the National Space Policy of 2010, what was the degree of compliance of the US Air Force with the ODMSP?
To answer this question, this paper draws from two sources of data. Firstly, a clear objective response is provided by a successful Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on the number of national security space launches realized by the Air Force from 2011 to 2018 and their compliance with the ODMSP, published for the first time in this paper. Secondly, to understand the hidden dynamics of the evolution of the Air Forces compliance with the ODMSP, the author interviewed numerous experts familiar to the matter, mostly current officials at the Department of Defense and the Department of State. They helped provide an explanatory framework behind the FOIAs dry answer, in particular regarding project development cycles at the Department of Defense and the personal influence of key decision-makers.
The paper is organized as follows. After providing details on the historical developments having led to the drafting of the ODMSP and further explanations of the requirements established by the National Space Policy of 2010, it reviews the implementation of these requirements into the Department of Defenses and the Air Forces own directives and (policy) instructions. Then, the core of the paper presents the recent drive of the Air Force towards compliance with the ODMSP. It analyzes various reasons having led to this improvement of the Air Forces behavior with a specific focus on the actual evolution of its launch capabilities and the personal push of influential individuals for increased compliance. Elements of comparison are provided with a quick factual presentation of NASA activities compliance with the ODMSP. Finally, the last section comments on the interagency discussions for the revision of the ODMSP, which conclusions were announced in December 2019. It investigates the reasons behind the choice to keep the 25-year rule, having led to intense speculation on the respective positions of key stakeholders.
Date of Conference: September 15-18, 2020
Track: Orbital Debris