Download - IAC 2013 - ADR Policy Project resentation

CONCEPTUALIZING AN ECONOMICALLY, LEGALLY AND POLITICALLY VIABLE ACTIVE DEBRIS REMOVAL OPTION

IN SUPPORT OF THE UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON SPACE APPLICATIONS

IAC-13-A6.8.1

Matteo Emanuelli | Tiffany Chow | Deva Prasad | Giulia Federico | Joshua Loughman

Space Safety and Sustainability Project Group

04/11/2023CONCEPTUALIZING AN ECONOMICALLY, LEGALLY AND POLITICALLY VIABLE ACTIVE DEBRIS REMOVAL OPTION

IN SUPPORT OF THE UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON SPACE APPLICATIONS 2

• INTRODUCTION

• ASSESSMENT

• CONCLUSION

• Background• Policy and Legal Challenges• Economic Challenges

• Scorecard Method• Case Study

• Conclusion & Next Steps

Summary

INTRODUCTION

CONCEPTUALIZING AN ECONOMICALLY, LEGALLY AND POLITICALLY VIABLE ACTIVE DEBRIS REMOVAL OPTION 04/11/2023

4IN SUPPORT OF THE UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON SPACE APPLICATIONS

• UN Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines (2007)

• Kessler Syndrome in LEO

• Necessity of ADR has been highlighted by many studies*

• At least 5 large objects deorbited per year

*Liou (2010)

BACKGROUND

Operational satellites6%

Decommissioned satellites, spent

upper stages and mission-related

objects38%

Debris originated from more than

200 in-orbit fragmentationss-

ince 196156%

Catalogued orbital population (US SSN)

Source: ESA



Ideally, passive (mitigation) and active (removal) means should be combined to face debris situation

However:• complicated Liability and Licensing• lack of Definition for space debris

Current International space law framework:• Space debris not even mentioned in Article IX Outer Space

Treaty (1967)• Liability Convention (1972) does not impose legal provision to

impose obligation on undertaking mitigation or removal actions• Liability can be mitigated by negotiations and compensations

but not doable in commercial framework• ITAR and others export control regulations

POLICY AND LEGAL CHALLENGES



Proposed actions to foster ADR:

• Agree on a shared definition of space debris• Definition of a pro-active legal regime to foster

public private partnership• Develop more accurate monitoring capabilities• Establish an independent organization to track,

store and share data about orbital debris• Develop SSA traffic management system

POLICY AND LEGAL CHALLENGES



ECONOMIC CHALLENGES

ADR

Cost Value

Partially addressed by policy approaches (International tax, license on launch operations, removal fee, etc.). Need to identify risk, stakeholders and time horizon.

If Cost < Value and Cost < Cost of alternatives, then the activity should be pursued and the stakeholders would procure the service.

“Build it first” demonstrator would set baseline mission cost and create base for appropriate framework.



National space agencies would cover development costs and by doing so, establishing procedures, pushing creation of appropriate policies that can be applied by economic forces. (e.g. Telecommunications satellites, launchers, space station)

Assuming a legal and policy framework for ADR, commercial objectives are:• Clearly identified value proposition for clearly defined

stakeholders• Modelling of risk to multiple assets over a time horizon• Identification of alternatives and trade study of those

options

ECONOMIC CHALLENGES

ASSESSMENT



Objective and multidisciplinary method to assess ADR projects to identify potential successful candidates but also to suggest preferred solutions

• Different criteria• Select measures and weights

SCORECARD METHOD



• Policy, Legal, Technical and Economic Framework

• The method does not aim to provide a comprehensive description of viable ADR projects but to provide a simple and easy-to-use indicator to determine the overall value of the ADR projects analysed

SCORECARD METHOD



• Policy and Legal Framework• Nationality• Strategy• Type of Cooperation• Legal Framework• Possibility of Anti-Satellite Weapon Applicability

• Technical Framework• Technology Readiness Level (TRL)

• Economic Framework• Definition of Business• Estimated Cost per Mission (ECM)• Estimate Cost per kg Deorbited (ECD)

SCORECARD METHOD



• CleanSpaceOne• Swiss Space Center

project• Target: Swiss

nanosatellite• Technology still in

development• ADR demonstrator

mission in 2018• ~ €12 million

CASE STUDY

Source: EPFL



• Swiss Space Center is supported by national Ministry of Education but not included in the decision making process of the country

• Scorecard result: poor (7 out of 36 points available)

However:

Swiss Foreign-Policy Strategy 2012-2015 is based on the following fundamental principle, i.e. rule of law, universality, neutrality, solidarity and responsibility and stability implemented by way of international cooperation

Although Switzerland is not a spacefaring country, it looks like it could be a suitable country to start active debris removal initiatives, which deal with security and complicated legal issues

CASE STUDY

CONCLUSION



• Started exploring an economically, politically, and legally viable way forward for ADR concepts

• Proposed method of evaluation based on a scorecard applied then to a case study

• Detailed analysis of the economic factors to justify ADR missions

• Expansion of scorecard and new case studies will be considered.

CONCLUSION AND NEXT STEPS

THANK YOU!

04/11/2023

17

Download - IAC 2013 - ADR Policy Project resentation

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