Compliance of mitigation of space debris must get stronger: ISRO chief

Bengaluru: Compliance of mitigation of space debris must get stronger in the coming days considering the large number of spacecraft being launched into Low Earth Orbit (LEO), S Somanath, Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

Increased launches of spacecraft in the past few years has caused excessive crowding of space systems “beyond what has been forewarned,” he noted. He was speaking at the opening plenary of ISRO’s 42nd meet with Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) comprising space communities from over 20 countries including France, China, Germany, Ukraine and Canada.

With India’s intent for long-term sustainability and zero-debris mission in space, the global space community will discuss “rules governing creation of space debris to ensure that all the spacecraft are disposed of after its lifetime and develop measures to prevent destruction and explosion of space objects,” he said.

Releasing a comprehensive ‘Monograph’ to address the issue of space debris and taking timely actions, he explained that with the proliferation of LEO satellites, which is likely to continue in the coming decades, prevention and monitoring of spacecraft for collision avoidance is a key responsibility of the space community today.

Currently, ISRO has 54 spacecraft in the space orbit. In addition to it, there are non-functional objects in space. Space systems including the moon and the solar planetary system have been crowded in the last decade. “We have been taking careful actions on the disposal of space objects from its active role after its lifetime to deorbit and bring it to a safe location. We believe discussions on this should get stronger in the coming years,” he said.

Careful design mechanisms of spacecraft including rockets and implementation of principles for collision avoidance are primary concerns in the space circles today. 

The ‘Monograph’ released by ISRO Chairman contains models generated by scientists for long-term orbit computations to analyse the future of the LEO environment.