October 1, 2008 Vol. 1, Issue 9
Space debris poses an increasing threat to space security, according to Space Security 2008, the fifth annual report by spacesecurity.org.
The dangers of space debris have been understood for decades, but progress on controlling the amount of debris in space has reversed. After several years of declines, the annual growth rate of debris has been increasing since 2004. The Department of Defense’s Space Surveillance is currently tracking more than 17,000 objects that are 10 cm in size or larger, and Russia is believed to be tracking 5,000 objects with its own monitoring system. During 2007 trackable space debris increased by 20.12%, according to the authors.
The report assesses space security in terms of eight dimensions:
- The space environment
- Space laws, policies and doctrines
- Civil space programs and global utilities
- Commercial space
- Space support for terrestrial military operations
- Space systems protection
- Space systems negation
- Space-based strike systems
Read the full report.
