Stephan Saunders
 October 8, 2012
 Public Policy 515

 Preserving the Environment of Space

 Based on the various scholarly readings, the issue of space debris is due to man’s intrepidness into space, sparking from the politically heated space race between the United States and The Soviet Russia. What has been left in orbit around earth is an estimated 4 million pounds of junk, ranging from dead spacecraft, lens covers, screws, and paint chips, even plastic bags of human excrement traveling at speeds up to 38,000 kilometers per hour (David, 2012). This undoubtedly poses a threat to the possibility of damaging current satellites that we rely on for communication, internet, navigation and national security. If the debris density becomes large enough at some altitudes those regions can of space become supercritical, meaning that collisions between objects are frequent enough they produce additional debris faster than atmospheric drag removes from the region which poses a threat jeopardize future missions and further space exploration (Wright, 2007). Three accidental collisions between catalogued objects during the period from late 1991 to early 2005 have already been documented (Liou, J. –C & Johnson, N.L., 2006). In December 2007, The United Nations General Assembly endorsed a comprehensive set of space debris mitigation guidelines, which was the culmination of a 10-year strategic plan led by the US (Johnson, 2012).

As more and more governments adhere to this policy, the attention now focuses on how to begin to remove some of the larger catalogued objects. For the near term, no single remediation technique appears to be both technically feasible and economically viable, and the success of any environmental remediation policies will require both government and private sector working together (Liou, J. –C & Johnson, N.L., 2006). With so many amazing achievements for science and mankind having been achieved from exploration into space, one can see the importance of protecting the upper reaches of our planet safe for future explorations. Just look at the recent images from the Hubble telescope or the landing of the Mars Curiosity Lab for inspiration.