Space Traffic Management Needs International Solution, Authority, ASE Says
The world needs to move toward a central controlling authority, probably under U.N. auspices, that collects and verifies observations of objects in space and issues warnings about possible collisions, said the Association of Space Explorers (ASE) in a docket 18-313…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
posting Monday. Until then, the FCC can use its orbital debris NPRM (see 1811150028) to assume that authority role in the U.S. until a longer-term solution is found, it said. It said for objects in orbit, an operator should have to advise a central controlling authority about debris put in orbit as a result of its activities and about any change in the satellite's status. ASE said operators should have to notify the central authority six months before retirement or de-orbit. It said the FCC and U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space should host a conference to form a list of actions needed internationally to address space traffic management and orbital debris issues. ASE is an international group of astronauts and cosmonauts.