Orbital debris : drafting, negotiating, implementing a convention

It is time to recognize that while space may be infinite, Earth orbital space is a finite natural resource that must be managed properly. The problem we face with space pollution is complex and serious. The space treaties and conventions are not sufficient. They were drafted at the time of space exploration in the 1960s and 1970s. Today, they fail to account for rapid changes in the field, especially the increasing commercial activity. Moreover, the existing mitigation guidelines remain voluntary and are not legally binding under international law. As a result, space debris tends to accumulate and remains in orbit for a long period of time. A space debris convention is thus warranted. The proposed international convention would have the following objectives: 1) Implement an international and independent tracking and cataloguing system for space debris; 2) Adopt enforceable space debris mitigation and disposal guidelines; 3) Enforce a space preservation provision for protecting the most vulnerable outer space regions and; 4) Define a space debris compensation and dispute settlement mechanism.

Department dc:contributor.department

Sloan School of Management.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Sénéchal, Thierry

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Lawrence E. Susskind and John van Maanen.

• Sloan School of Management.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39519

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/39519