Confronting Space Debris: Strategies and Warnings from Comparable Examples Including Deepwater Horizon

Orbital debris represents a growing threat to the operation of man-made systems in space. There are currently hundreds of thousands of debris objects greater than one centimeter in diameter in Earth's orbit, and the collision of any one of these objects with an operational satellite would cause catastrophic failure of that satellite. The authors identified a set of comparable problems that share similarities with orbital debris and narrowed this set down to the following nine issues: acid rain, U.S. commercial airline security, asbestos, chlorofluorocarbons, hazardous waste, oil spills, radon, email spam, and U.S. border control. This monograph provides context and insight for decisionmakers by asking the following questions: How have other industries approached their "orbital debris-like" risks? What lessons can be learned from these cases before proceeding with debris mitigation or remediation measures? Findings are drawn from practical examples that include the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the results of which emphasized that remedies must be designed and tested to work under the actual operating conditions.