SDA Standard Member Director, Erika Rossetto of Embratel, recently talked about space safety at the Latin American Satellite Conference. Here she outlines why it is important and what challenges remain.
Since the beginning of commercial satellite operations, the space population has grown exponentially. This has brought about a number of significant challenges for safety operations, and it is becoming even more challenging. Due the high demand for global networks, the space industry is currently facing a new era: mega constellations, especially in LEO. There are more than 100 constellations in orbit, but 15 are in LEO and almost 50 are providing internet service. However, LEO is already the most populated orbit, both in terms of number of operational satellites and debris.
One of the biggest challenges is the number of objects we cannot track due to resources limitations. It is estimated that 42% of space debris are small pieces generated by collisions or explosion.
To tackle this, we have seen the emergence of various rules and guidelines, such as detailing safe re-entry for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and deorbiting to graveyard orbit for Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO).
However, that is not enough.
In the past few years, a number of considerable improvements have been made by several organizations to enhance the space safety. One of the most relevant was the creation of Space Data Association, where several operators work together to have more safe and reliable satellite operations.
It is important to note that the space safety operation is different for each orbital regime. At the same time, each one has particularity and it is not simple to say what is the safest. It is clear however that the mega constellations are much more complex. For instance, while a geo operator performs, more or less, 1 mitigation manoeuvre per month, SpaceX presented a report which showed it had an average of more than 300 collision avoidance manoeuvres per month in the first semester of 2021.
While the risk seems huge, this certainly doesn’t mean we should stop the growth of constellations. The key question is: how can we operate mega constellations with a safe space environment?
- Invest in technology
As an industry we need to invest in technology to improve the operator’s capability to predict and act to mitigate risks with a high level of confidence.
- Clean up space
There are various projects looking at ways to clean up space. For example, ESA in partnership with private organizations, are planning to launch mission to bring back space debris from LEO. Several other initiatives are coming.
- Collaborate
For any initiatives to work, it will be necessary for the industry to work together in a collaborative environment, such as the SDA. It is not possible to guarantee the safety individually.
While a number of challenges remain, it is possible to enable the satellite industry to continue to grow while ensuring space remains safe for all. However, in order to do that, we need to have commitment from all space organization to embrace the challenge of building a future safe for space exploration.