DOCSLIB.ORG

Effect of Mega-Constellations on Collision Risk in Space

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

EFFECT OF MEGA-CONSTELLATIONS ON COLLISION RISK IN SPACE C. Alvaro´ Arroyo-Parejo, Noelia Sanchez-Ortiz,´ and Raul´ Dom´ınguez-Gonzalez´ DEIMOS Space S.L.U., Ronda de Poniente 19, Tres Cantos, Madrid, 28760 Spain, Email: fcarlos.arroyo, noelia.sanchez, [email protected] ABSTRACT 1. INTRODUCTION During the last decade, the space sector has been wit- nessing a change in trend, giving way to what is cur- The number of companies aiming to launch mega con- rently known as “New Space”. This change in trend has stellations into space is increasing. The majority of them led, among other things, to the miniaturisation of satel- are supposed to be deployed in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) lites (nanosatellites, picosatellites, etc,) and their mass regions where the population of space debris is most con- production by private companies. According to the lat- centrated. This change in the industry requires develop- est ESA’s environmental space report [1], the number ments in collision risk analysis since, in case of satellite of objects in the low Earth orbit (LEO) regions contin- failure, the probability that one of them collides with a ues to increase, this being the orbital regime with the piece of space debris is not negligible, and the satellite largest number of active objects. In addition, the largest would potentially break apart creating more space debris. number of objects in this regime corresponds, nowa- Therefore, a collision would ultimately increase the over- days, to commercial missions. It is in this context that all collision risk, leading to the well-known Kessler syn- the emergence of commercial proposals related to world- drome. wide broadband constellations projects becomes impor- tant, as they threaten the future sustainability of space and space operations. These mega-constellation plans, from This paper discusses the investigation of how mega- private companies (Starlink, OneWeb, Amazon Kuiper, constellations will affect the space environment in terms etc.), consist of thousands of satellites located at LEO of collision risk. At first, an overview of the different or very low Earth orbit (VLEO) regimes in which, as mega-constellations has been carried out in order to pro- aforementioned, the majority of current operational satel- vide orbit definition and orbital lifetime for different sce- lites and space debris objects reside. The main prob- narios. Then, different methods and mathematical tools lem lies within the fact that, if all these projects were to compute the collision risk have been considered. ESA- to come to fruition, the number of tracked objects cur- MASTER has been used to compute the flux during the rently in space could triple in a few years. Increasing complete orbital lifetime with the purpose of estimating the number of objects raises the collision risk. The risk the mean number of collisions and the impact probabil- of causing a chain reaction due to the collision between ity for the entire constellation. Since these constellations space debris objects (the well-known Kessler syndrome are formed by hundreds or thousands of satellites, the en- [2]) has been analysed in numerous studies [3,4,5,6,7], dogenous and exogenous encounters have been also com- concluding that in the event of such collisions, the LEO puted for objects in a mega-constellation. Thus, the im- regime could become inaccessible or accessible at high pact of a collision cloud on the constellation has been risk, and remain so for hundreds of years, endangering characterised. This analysis has been made following two future manned flights. Owing to the aforementioned rea- different approaches: the collision of a single object of sons, several recent studies have tried to highlight how the the constellation with an external space debris, and the risk of collision would be greatly affected by the appear- failure of a satellite of the constellation which leads to a ance of these mega-constellations. Some of these studies collision with a second constellation object. The study have tried to analyse the mean number of collisions and has determined the impact on the space debris environ- the probability of collision for a constellation object and ment and the flux evolution after the encounter. Due for the whole constellation [8,9, 10]. Moreover, these to the number of objects, the constellation and the cat- analysis include each and every stage of the constella- alogue, it is necessary to optimise the evaluation of the tion: ascent, nominal orbit and disposal. Alongside these, encounters with the aim of reducing the computational the impact on the number of collision avoidance manoeu- expense of the implementation. vres that would have to be performed [9, 10], and on how different post-mission disposal (PMD) strategies would affect to reduce collision probability [11] has been anal- Keywords: mega-constellations; flux analysis; collision ysed. Both higher satellite mass and constellation orbit probability, space debris. altitude are also an important factor in terms of Collision Proc. 8th European Conference on Space Debris (virtual), Darmstadt, Germany, 20–23 April 2021, published by the ESA Space Debris Office Ed. T. Flohrer, S. Lemmens & F. Schmitz, (http://conference.sdo.esoc.esa.int, May 2021) rate percentage increase (CRI) [12]. In spite of these re- [15, 16, 18]. These initial proposals placed the OneWeb searches, it is certain that these mega-constellations will constellation at an altitude of 1200 km while the Star- be operative in the coming years. Consequently, other link constellation consisted of orbits located at differ- studies have tried to evaluate how this collision risk will ent altitudes: 550, 1110, 1130, 1275 and 1325 km. In affect the design of future mega-constellations [13] or as- addition, the proposed modification of Starlink for its sess and propose ways to mitigate possible collisions that first generation has also been considered in the analy- may occur [14]. sis [17]. In this proposal, altitudes higher than 1000 km Another problem encountered when analysing these have been reduced to altitudes between 540 and 570 km. mega-constellations is the opacity and lack of informa- Also, OneWeb’s second generation proposal to increase tion in some of their data (e.g., the geometry and size the number of satellites to around 48000 for the same al- of the satellites or the the characteristics of the propul- titude will be taken into account (although the company sion subsystem). Subsequently, some of the parameters has recently stated that the number of satellites will be used during this and other studies make some assump- drastically reduced to about 6372). Furthermore, the fol- tions to characterize the problem. Fortunately, the char- lowing assumptions have been made for both constella- acteristics of the orbits used in the OneWeb and Starlink tions: constellations analysed in this study have been published through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) • The operational phase lifetime of each satellite [15, 16, 17] (as for the Amazon Kuiper project [18]). In within the constellation will be 5 years. addition, this analysis assumes that both projects take into • The operational lifetime of the total constellation consideration the international debris mitigation guide- will be 10 years. lines proposed by the United Nation’s Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS). In this pa- • The spacecraft failure rate will vary between 2.5% per, the collision probability risks analysed correspond and 5%. to the OneWeb and Starlink projects for two main rea- sons: they are the two projects that are currently being According to the latest ESA’s Annual Space Environment launched, and thereafter, the information on them is more Report [1], the population of objects in LEO is larger be- accessible and has been gathered in other analyses. It tween 300 km and 800 km, where the Starlink modifi- is important to underline that most of the analyses per- cation would be located. It must also be taken into ac- formed in this study have been carried out using pub- count that both the OneWeb constellation and the first lic access software tools (DRAMA software tools suite, Starlink proposal are located at altitudes above 800 km, MASTER-2009 and MASTER-8) which are provided by and therefore, both their ascent and disposal will pass the European Space Agency through the Space Debris through those altitudes increasing the flux and, thus, the User Portal (SDUP). probability of collision. However, this probability of col- The structure of this document is as follows. Section lision will be lower than that of the nominal orbit because 2 summarizes the characteristics of the orbits used, as the duration with respect to it is also shorter. In addition, well as the geometry of the satellites that form the mega- most of the tracked objects in these orbits correspond to constellations. The methodology applied in this analy- space debris which increase the indeterminacy of the ob- sis is described in Section 3. The results of the flux, jects’ orbits. This is because, currently, the catalogue of mean number of collisions, probability of collision, and tracked objects consists of those objects with diameters the impact of collision clouds are discussed in Section 4. greater than 10 cm [19] obtained through direct observa- Finally, Section 5 presents the main conclusions drawn tions; while diameters smaller than 10 cm, the catalogue from this study and possible future work. of objects is based on indirect observations and mathe- matical models, which generates a large uncertainty in the measurements [20]. 2. MAIN PARAMETERS OF MEGA- CONSTELLATIONS The Starlink (SpaceX), OneWeb (OneWeb and Airbus), and Kuiper (Amazon) mega-constellations are the three major projects proposed to provide high-speed broadband and global Internet coverage. They are classified as Non- geostationary satellite orbit systems (NGSO) [9]. Cur- rently, only the satellites of the first two constellations are being launched, and there is no information regarding the satellites of the Amazon Kuiper one, so the analysis will focus on Starlink and OneWeb.
Recommended publications
  • Kessler Syndrome

    Kessler Syndrome

    Kessler Syndrome March 20, 2021 What is Kessler Syndrome? The Kessler syndrome, also called the Kessler effect, collisional cascading or ablation cascade, is a scenario in which the density of objects in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is high enough that collisions between objects could cause a cascade where each collision generates space debris that increases the likelihood of further collisions. Who proposed it? It is a theory proposed by NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler in 1978, used to describe a self-sustaining cascading collision of space debris in LEO. In an article published on June 1, 1978 in the American Journal of Geophysical Research, the authors Donald J. Kessler and Burton G. Cour-Palais, two NASA experts, identified the risk of an exponential increase in the number of space debris or orbital debris under the effect of mutual collisions. The two authors believed that a belt formed by these objects or fragments of objects around the Earth would soon form. Eventually threatening space activities, this phenomenon will be popularized a few years later under the name of Kessler syndrome Implications One implication is that the distribution of debris in orbit could render space activities and the use of satellites in specific orbital ranges impractical for many generations. The Kessler syndrome is troublesome because of the domino effect and feedback runaway wherein impacts between objects of sizable mass spall off debris from the force of the collision Every satellite, space probe, and manned mission has the potential to produce space debris. A cascading Kessler syndrome becomes more likely as satellites in orbit increase in number.
  • FCC-20-54A1.Pdf

    FCC-20-54A1.Pdf

    Federal Communications Commission FCC 20-54 Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 In the Matter of ) ) Mitigation of Orbital Debris in the New Space Age ) IB Docket No. 18-313 ) REPORT AND ORDER AND FURTHER NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULEMAKING Adopted: April 23, 2020 Released: April 24, 2020 By the Commission: Chairman Pai and Commissioners O’Rielly, Carr, and Starks issuing separate statements; Commissioner Rosenworcel concurring and issuing a statement. Comment Date: (45 days after date of publication in the Federal Register). Reply Comment Date: (75 days after date of publication in the Federal Register). TABLE OF CONTENTS Heading Paragraph # I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 1 II. BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................................... 3 III. DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................................................... 14 A. Regulatory Approach to Mitigation of Orbital Debris ................................................................... 15 1. FCC Statutory Authority Regarding Orbital Debris ................................................................ 15 2. Relationship with Other U.S. Government Activities ............................................................. 20 3. Economic Considerations .......................................................................................................
  • Solving the Space Debris Crisis Paul B

    Solving the Space Debris Crisis Paul B

    Journal of Air Law and Commerce Volume 83 | Issue 3 Article 2 2018 Solving the Space Debris Crisis Paul B. Larsen Georgetown University Law Center, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.smu.edu/jalc Part of the Air and Space Law Commons Recommended Citation Paul B. Larsen, Solving the Space Debris Crisis, 83 J. Air L. & Com. 475 (2018) https://scholar.smu.edu/jalc/vol83/iss3/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at SMU Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Air Law and Commerce by an authorized administrator of SMU Scholar. For more information, please visit http://digitalrepository.smu.edu. SOLVING THE SPACE DEBRIS CRISIS PAUL B. LARSEN* ABSTRACT Space debris is a growing public safety problem. As described by the Kessler Syndrome,1 the increasing accumulation of debris will soon hinder and eventually preclude access to outer space unless the trend is swiftly reversed. The Inter-Agency Space Deb- ris Coordination Committee’s (IADC) Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines, as adopted by the United Nations (UN) Committee for the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), are voluntary but are enforced as mandatory regulations by major space pow- ers; however, the guidelines only apply to new debris. The Euro- pean Space Agency’s (ESA) 2017 Space Debris Conference concluded that existing space debris guidelines are inadequate and must be further strengthened in order to successfully con- trol space debris.2 * The author taught air and space law for more than forty years respectively at Southern Methodist University and at Georgetown University.
  • In the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

    In the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

    USCA Case #21-1125 Document #1900500 Filed: 05/26/2021 Page 1 of 70 IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT VIASAT, INC., Petitioner, Case No. 21 - 1_________________125 v. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION, Respondent. VIASAT, INC.’S PROTECTIVE PETITION FOR REVIEW Pursuant to 47 U.S.C. § 402(a), 28 U.S.C. §§ 2342(1) and 2344, and Rule 15(a) of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, Viasat, Inc. hereby petitions the Court for review of the final order of the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) captioned In the Matter of Space Exploration Holdings, LLC Request for Modification of the Authorization for the SpaceX NGSO Satellite System, Order and Authorization and Order on Reconsideration, IBFS File No. SAT-MOD-20200417-00037, Call Signs S2983/S3018 (rel. Apr. 27, 2021) (Order). A copy of the Order is attached as Exhibit A. Viasat is simultaneously filing a Notice of Appeal of the Order pursuant to 47 U.S.C. § 402(b) and (c) and Rule 15(a) of the Federal Rules of Appellate USCA Case #21-1125 Document #1900500 Filed: 05/26/2021 Page 2 of 70 Procedure. As explained in the Notice of Appeal and below, a Notice of Appeal under § 402(b)(6) is the proper vehicle to challenge the Order. In its Order, the Commission grants, subject to certain conditions, the application of Space Exploration Holdings, LLC (SpaceX) for modification of its license for a non- geostationary orbit fixed-satellite service constellation using Ku- and Ka-band spectrum. Order ¶ 1; see also Order ¶ 8 (“Section 25.117 of the Commission’s rules governs the modification of space station licenses.”); 47 C.F.R.
  • The State of Broadband 2019 Broadband As a Foundation for Sustainable Development

    The State of Broadband 2019 Broadband As a Foundation for Sustainable Development

    International The State of Broadband: Telecommunication Union Broadband as a Foundation Place des Nations CH-1211 Geneva 20 Switzerland for Sustainable Development September 2019 ISBN 978-92-61-28971-3 9 7 8 9 2 6 1 2 8 9 7 1 3 Published in Switzerland broadbandcommission.org Geneva, 2019 THE STATE OF BROADBAND 2019 Broadband as a Foundation for Sustainable Development ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development © International Telecommunication Union and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2019 Some rights reserved. This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- ShareAlike 3.0 IGO licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO; https:// creativecommons .org/ licenses/by -nc -sa/ 3 .0/ igo).). Under the terms of this licence, you may copy, redistribute and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes, provided the work is appropriately cited, as indicated below. In any use of this work, there should be no suggestion that ITU or UNESCO endorses any specific organization, products or services. The unauthorized use of the ITU or UNESCO names or logos is not permitted. If you adapt the work, then you must license your work under the same or equivalent Creative Commons licence. If you create a translation of this work, you should add the following disclaimer along with the suggested citation: “This translation was not created by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) or the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Neither ITU nor UNESCO are responsible for the content or accuracy of this translation. The original English edition shall be the binding and authentic edition”.
  • High-Speed Goes Small the Internet Has Changed Life As We Know It, with a Massive Array of Possibilities Enabled

    High-Speed Goes Small the Internet Has Changed Life As We Know It, with a Massive Array of Possibilities Enabled

    ....High Speed Internet Photo courtesy of sdecoret/Shutterstock High-speed goes small The Internet has changed life as we know it, with a massive array of possibilities enabled. We can speak with friends across the world in real-time, run our businesses, shop for groceries, or catch the latest episode of ‘insert current TV show I’m too behind the times to be aware of’ on our mobile phone while cuddling up in bed. We take this connectivity for granted, paying very little attention to the incredible fibre or satellite technology behind it, despite the fact that this can only be described as Very Big Business. Amy Saunders, Editor, Satellite Evolution Group For those of us who grew up without any kind of Internet • Small (and large) businesses: Closely entwined with at all – I remember how exciting it was when my parents got online shopping, entrepreneurs have grasped hold of our first dial-up connectivity back in my early teen years – opportunities to launch their own online businesses at the advent of high-speed broadband into homes across the very low cost, providing a flexible and independent developed world was a complete game-changer on so many alternative to the standard 9-5. Meanwhile, established levels. As this new level of connectivity became widespread, businesses both small and large are increasingly enabling innovative online companies launched amazing new home working for employees, which is often cheaper and applications that broadened horizons irreversibly for more efficient in labour terms and favoured by many staff. consumers, businesses and government: • Online banking: For those with mobility issues or under time constraints, or simply with better things to do, online • Staying in touch: The Internet has enabled families and banking has become a fantastic use of the Internet, saving friends to stay in touch over unfathomable distances, via time for both customers and the banks themselves.
  • IAC-18-B2.1.7 Page 1 of 16 a Technical Comparison of Three

    IAC-18-B2.1.7 Page 1 of 16 a Technical Comparison of Three

    A Technical Comparison of Three Low Earth Orbit Satellite Constellation Systems to Provide Global Broadband Inigo del Portilloa,*, Bruce G. Cameronb, Edward F. Crawleyc a Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge 02139, USA, [email protected] b Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge 02139, USA, [email protected] c Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge 02139, USA, [email protected] * Corresponding Author Abstract The idea of providing Internet access from space has made a strong comeback in recent years. After a relatively quiet period following the setbacks suffered by the projects proposed in the 90’s, a new wave of proposals for large constellations of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to provide global broadband access emerged between 2014 and 2016. Compared to their predecessors, the main differences of these systems are: increased performance that results from the use of digital communication payloads, advanced modulation schemes, multi-beam antennas, and more sophisticated frequency reuse schemes, as well as the cost reductions from advanced manufacturing processes (such as assembly line, highly automated, and continuous testing) and reduced launch costs. This paper compares three such large LEO satellite constellations, namely SpaceX’s 4,425 satellites Ku-Ka-band system, OneWeb’s 720 satellites Ku-Ka-band system, and Telesat’s 117 satellites Ka-band system. First, we present the system architecture of each of the constellations (as described in their respective FCC filings as of September 2018), highlighting the similarities and differences amongst the three systems.
  • NGSO Large Constellations SES

    NGSO Large Constellations SES

    ITU Satellite Symposium 2019 - Bariloche NGSO Constellations - O3b, mPower PRESENTED BY PRESENTED ON Suzanne Malloy 24 septiembre 2019 SES Proprietary and Confidential | With the world’s largest multi-orbit, multi-band satellite fleet, we are building a next-generation network for our customers’ growth Unique Driver of 50+ GEO-MEO INNOVATION satellites covering constellation complemented in building a cloud-scale, by a ground segment, automated, “virtual fibre” network of together forming a flexible the future. Leading in the industry’s 99% network architecture that is most influential standards groups of the globe and world globally scalable population SES Proprietary and Confidential | Suzanne Malloy, ITU Satellite Symposium 2019 2 SES Constellations GEO wide beam Over 50 satellite constellation Reaching >350 million TV households worldwide GEO HTS Expanding HTS fleet: SES-12, SES-14, SES-15, future SES-17 Improving value proposition for data applications MEO HTS Operational since 2015, now 20 satellites High throughput, low latency 7 next-generation satellites in 2021 SES Proprietary and Confidential | Suzanne Malloy, ITU Satellite Symposium 2019 Across industries, business customers are embracing digital technologies, the cloud, IoT and big data IT spending priorities E-learning revenues in LATAM shifting to digital business, have doubled IoT, big data¹ over last 5 years² Enterprise Education Mobile banking, omni-channel 82% of mining execs will experience driving bandwidth increase digitalization growth spending over next 3
  • Governance Report

    Governance Report

    Governance report In this section 82 Our Board of directors 86 Our Executive Committee 88 Chair’s introduction 90 Our leadership 97 Board evaluation 100 Audit and Risk Committee report 110 Nominations Committee report 115 Our compliance with the UK Corporate Governance Code 119 Directors’ report 123 Directors’ responsibilities statement 124 Directors’ remuneration report Airtel Africa plc Annual Report and Accounts 2021 81 © 2021 Friend Studio Ltd File name: BoardXandXExecXCommittee_v48 Modification Date: 26 May 2021 8:22 am Governance report Our Board of directors Sunil Bharti Mittal Raghunath Mandava Chair Chief executive officer N M Date appointed to Board: October 2018 Date appointed to Board: July 2018 Independent: no Independent: no Age: 63 Age: 54 Nationality: Indian Nationality: Indian Skills, expertise and contribution Skills, expertise and contribution Sunil is the founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, one of India’s leading Raghu has held a variety of sales, marketing, customer experience and general conglomerates with diversified interests in telecoms, insurance, real estate, management roles in the FMCG and telecoms industries. Raghu joined Airtel Africa agriculture and food, renewable energy and other ventures. Bharti Airtel, the flagship Group as chief operating officer in 2016 and took over as CEO in January 2017. company of Bharti Enterprises, is a global telecommunications company operating in To his role as CEO, he brings a deep understanding of telecoms and a strong belief 18 countries across South Asia and Africa. It’s one of the top three mobile operators that connectivity can accelerate growth by helping to bridge the digital divide and globally, with a network covering over two billion people.
  • Airbus, Delta, Oneweb, Sprint, Airtel Announce the Formation Of

    Airbus, Delta, Oneweb, Sprint, Airtel Announce the Formation Of

    Airbus, Delta, OneWeb, Sprint, Airtel Announce the Formation of Seamless Air Alliance Enabling Airlines to Empower Passengers with Seamless In-Cabin Connectivity Experience The Alliance welcomes interested parties to join as members to be at the forefront of driving global change to enhance passenger experience Barcelona, 26th February 2018 – Airbus, Delta, OneWeb, Sprint, and Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”) announce the formation of the Seamless Air Alliance – which will usher in a new era of innovation for airlines on all routes. By empowering member mobile operators to extend their services into airline cabins, the Seamless Air Alliance will allow them to continuously provide their customers - via satellite technology - with the same high speed, low latency connectivity from ground, to air and back again. It will also significantly reduce costs for everyone involved while creating a smooth, positive user-experience. The alliance – which aims to attract additional industry operators beyond the five initial members – will eliminate the immense costs and hurdles commonly associated with acquisition, installation, and operation of data access infrastructure by streamlining system integration and certification, providing open specifications for interoperability, increasing accessibility for passengers, and enabling simple and integrated billing. “What if the best internet you ever experienced was in the air? Keeping this goal in mind, together, we will enable an affordable and frictionless experience for passengers everywhere,” said Greg Wyler, Founder and Executive Chairman of OneWeb. “With the launch of our first production satellites set for later this year, we’re one step closer to bridging the global Digital Divide on land and in the air.” “Easy-to-use, high-speed connectivity is part of the next revolution in aerospace,” said Marc Fontaine, Airbus Digital Transformation Officer.
  • FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, D.C

    FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, D.C

    Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20554 ____________________________________ ) Application of ) ) SPACE EXPLORATION HOLDINGS, LLC ) Call Signs: S2983 and S3018 ) For Modification of Authorization for the ) File No. SAT-MOD-20200417-00037 SpaceX NGSO Satellite System ) ____________________________________) CONSOLIDATED OPPOSITION TO PETITIONS AND RESPONSE TO COMMENTS OF SPACE EXPLORATION HOLDINGS, LLC William M. Wiltshire David Goldman Paul Caritj Director, Satellite Policy HARRIS, WILTSHIRE & GRANNIS LLP SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES CORP. 1919 M Street, N.W. 1155 F Street, N.W. Suite 800 Suite 475 Washington, DC 20036 Washington, DC 20004 202-730-1300 tel 202-649-2700 tel 202-730-1301 fax 202-649-2701 fax Counsel to SpaceX July 27, 2020 SUMMARY Given the urgency of bringing broadband to every American no matter where they live, SpaceX is proud to be on the cusp of delivering truly high-speed, low-latency service to customers in the United States and around the world, especially those in underserved and unserved areas including in Polar regions. In just over two years since having received its license, SpaceX has launched many hundreds of satellites for its broadband constellation – many hundreds more satellites than any other non-geostationary orbit (“NGSO”) satellite operator authorized in its processing round – and begun to deploy a large-scale ground-based infrastructure. SpaceX operates the satellites currently on-orbit at an altitude of 550 km where the effects of atmospheric drag ensure that orbital debris and any failed satellites de-orbit rapidly. As the Commission has recognized, operating at this low altitude enhances the safety of all systems operating in space.
  • Small Satellites and Space Debris Mitigation

    Small Satellites and Space Debris Mitigation

    chapter 11 Small Satellites and Space Debris Mitigation Cordula Steinkogler* i Introduction Almost six decades of spaceflight have left a large quantity of debris in outer space. Due to the continuous increase in space activities, the amount of space debris is constantly growing. While in 2005 the total mass of catalogued objects in Earth orbit was an estimated 5,000 tons, this number had risen to approxi- mately 6,000 tons by 2010 and amounts to over 6,600 tons today.1 At present, approximately 17,000 space objects with sizes ranging from a few centimetres to several meters are officially catalogued.2 Of these, however, only approximately * The author would like to thank Prof Otto Koudelka (Graz University of Technology), Dr Manuel Metz (German Aerospace Center), Attila Matas (ITU) and Vladimir Agapov (Russian Academy of Sciences) for the valuable advice and useful material they provided on technical matters. 1 National Aeronautics and Space Administration, ‘Monthly Effective Mass of Objects in Earth Orbit by Region’ (Orbital Debris Quarterly News, January 2015) <http://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa .gov/newsletter/newsletter.html>. 2 National Aeronautics and Space Administration, ‘Satellite Box Score’ (Orbital Debris Quarterly News, January 2015) <http://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/newsletter/newsletter.html>. See also United States Strategic Command, ‘Satellite Situation Report’ <https://www.space-track.org> (as of 6 June 2015). Note that according to the esa space debris risk assessment model esa MASTER 2009 the current number of space objects larger than 10 cm is approximately 29,000. See Institute of Aerospace Systems – Technische Universität Braunschweig, Maintenance of the esa MASTER Model – Final Report (European Space Agency 2011) 336.