Africa Establishes New Space Partnerships

The use of space-based technologies can help achieve sustainable development in Africa, a capacity recently bolstered in that continent by creation of two regional space partnerships.

The third African Leadership Conference on Space Science and Technology for Sustainable Development was held on December 7-9 in Algiers.

The conference was hosted by the Algerian Space Agency with the support of the United Nations Committee on The Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).

An outcome of the gathering was the signing of two regional space partnerships:

-- To support African efforts in disaster management by means of space-based technologies, the Algerian Space Agency and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) signed a cooperation agreement to establish a regional support office for the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response, a program created under the recommendations of COPUOS and implemented by UNOOSA.

-- The Governments of Algeria, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa signed an agreement on African Resources Management Satellite Constellation, a regional initiative that aims to develop a network of satellites to make space technology more accessible to end-users in areas such as food security, environmental monitoring, land use, water management and public health.

Platform of cooperation
The meeting and attendant partnerships underscored the fact that space tools have been vital in mitigating the loss of lives and property in times of disaster.

Furthermore, using space-based instruments is essential to formulating a strategy and necessary plans of action that can assist Africa to improve its socio-economic development.

Ambassador Ciro Arévalo-Yepes, Chairman of COPUOS, told conference participants that “the construction of a platform of cooperation between African States is the best way to identify common elements for future regional space policy.” Multilateral mechanisms and initiatives exist, he said, to support Member States in implementing the use of space tools and solutions.

An all-African satellite constellation was saluted by the Algerian Minister for Post and Information Technologies and Communication, Hamid Bessalah, as “great cooperation” between the four countries, which “will facilitate space data for African countries”.

Ideal Forum
Dr. Ray Williamson, Executive Director of Secure World Foundation (SWF), said the conference provided an ideal forum to sensitize African leaders on the importance of science and space technology for the sustainable socio-economic development of Africa.

“The two agreements signed at this conference are extremely important not only to the growth of the space effort in Africa, but also to the development of African scientific and technological capacity,” SWF’s Williamson said. “It is a significant step forward.”

Organized every two years, the African Leadership Conference on Space Science and Technology for Sustainable Development allows key decision makers and professionals active in the field of space to discuss various questions inherent to the sustainable development of the African continent. Participation of African countries to recognize mutually beneficial projects is a specific objective of the gathering of experts.

Reducing Orbital Debris – A Call for Global Leadership and Cooperation

The threat from orbital debris is a growing international concern. Finding the steps that can be taken to help reduce this menacing problem has brought together leading experts from around the world.

NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have organized the first ever international conference devoted solely to the subject of orbital debris removal. The NASA/DARPA meeting was held this week, December 8-10, in Chantilly, Virginia.

Taking part in this seminal gathering is Brian Weeden, Secure World Foundation’s Technical Advisor, providing an authoritative look at the policy issues of active debris removal and the opportunity for leadership and cooperation.

Not just a technical problem
“Orbital debris is a global problem that poses a threat to the use of space by all States. Actively removing orbital debris is part of solving this problem, but it is by its nature a global solution that requires international cooperation and transparency,” Weeden said.

As invited speaker to the three-day international conference, Weeden has noted that orbital debris removal is not just a technical problem. “The economic costs of removing objects need to be compared to the risk they pose to active spacecraft, and there are large legal and political issues to tackle as well,” he advised.

Weeden observed that recent studies and research by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have indicated that removing a handful of objects per year could be enough to stabilize the growth of orbital debris.

“The next step in active debris removal is to figure out which objects should be initially targeted and how best to remove them,” Weeden said. However, an essential aspect to begin moving forward on active debris removal, he said, is doing so within a multidisciplinary and international context.

Highlighted within Weeden’s presentation -- Active Debris Removal: An Opportunity for Leadership and Cooperation – he noted:

-- There needs to be general international agreement and transparency on the technical merits of removing from Earth orbit space objects in general.

-- An important element of active space debris removal is general international agreement and transparency on which objects are selected for elimination.

-- Lack of consensus or buy-in could lead to perception that objects are being selected for removal because of political motivation.

Steps ahead
“A particular point of discussion among the conference attendees has been the economic mechanisms that could provide free market incentives for debris removal,” Weeden said.

One concept discussed was that of a “deposit” paid on satellites when they are launched, akin to the deposit on cans and bottles. “If a satellite owner-operator or third party then removed the satellite from orbit, it gets the deposit back,” Weeden added. Other notions involving economics included a view of expanding the role of the insurance industry.

At the NASA/DARPA meeting, Weeden explained that a key step forward is bringing together legal and technical experts to start discussing the problem of legal definitions and sovereignty. “Tackling the issue of who owns which piece and potentially transferring that ownership is essential,” he stated.

For the full briefing given by Weeden -- Active Debris Removal: An Opportunity for Leadership and Cooperation – go here.

NASA, DARPA Host Space Junk Wake-Up Call

By Leonard David (courtesy Space News)

Outer space has become Earth's largest junkyard.

It is an international dumping ground for derelict spacecraft, wreckage from colliding satellites, remains from mischievous anti-satellite testing, spent rocket stages, discarded lens caps and clamp bands, paint chips and, yes, at one point, even a lost-to-space tool bag.

All that riff-raff might be out of sight, but it is far from being out of mind. This week, experts from around the world are attending a wake-up call type of meeting.

NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have teamed up to take a hard look at the issues and challenges of de-cluttering space of human-made orbital debris. The result: A first-of-its-kind International Conference on Orbital Debris Removal is being held today through Dec. 10 in Chantilly, Va.

Wanted: innovative solutions
Understanding the space debris problem is one thing. Hammering out viable operational concepts to eliminate the rubbish is another. Then toss in legal and economic issues, as well as incentives. And for good measure add to the brew international policy and cooperation requirements.

For many years NASA has considered means to "remediate" the near-Earth space environment, that is, removing human-made flotsam from Earth orbit – at both low and high altitudes, said Nicholas Johnson, chief scientist of NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

"We have also evaluated the feasibility of numerous concepts proposed by other U.S. government organizations, the aerospace industry, academia, and the general public," Johnson told SPACE.com. "To date, none of the techniques examined have proven entirely practical due to technical and/or economic reasons."

Johnson said that, earlier this year NASA and DARPA – which is renowned for its innovative solutions to exceptionally difficult problems – agreed to host this week's international conference devoted solely to the subject of orbital debris removal.

More than 50 presentations from the United States, Russia, France, Germany, and Japan will be offered to address not only the technical and economic challenges, but also the legal and policy issues associated with orbital debris removal.

To promote the reliable operation of space systems in the near term, the removal of small orbital debris is of principal interest.

"To preserve the near-Earth space environment for the farther term, the removal of large debris...derelict spacecraft and launch vehicle stages, is required," Johnson observed. "Consequently, a variety of orbital debris removal techniques will likely be necessary to handle the entire spectrum of orbital debris sizes at all altitudes."

Tragedy of the commons
Indeed, over the years various schemes have been aired to deal with the untidiness of orbital debris, be it huge aerogel-laden puff balls to snare debris, various types of galloping gotcha tethers, even vacuum cleaner-type contraptions.

"This is a tragedy of the commons kind of thing," said Jerome Pearson, President of Star Technology and Research, Inc. in Mount Pleasant, S.C. "No one country is responsible for cleaning up space."

Pearson is a strong advocate for a roving space vehicle based on his work to fashion a propellant-less electrodynamic thruster system. This ElectroDynamic Debris Eliminator (EDDE) vehicle, he said, is the only viable method known for the plucking from space of large debris.

EDDE would be maneuverable, flying from place to place in low Earth orbit. This concept is reusable with each vehicle capable of removing many targets by simple debris capture, utilizing lightweight nets or a grappler.

Pearson, however, flags a knotty issue.

"You can't just go up there and move somebody's stuff without permission," Pearson said. "Anything that can go up and grab a piece of debris and bring it down...well, it can also grab somebody's operational satellite and bring it down. That's a space weapon," he cautioned.

What's needed is some kind of international agreement, Pearson said. "There's a lot to be done there. I think it may be more political...more diplomatic than technical," he added.

Umbrella of technologies
One proposal to be aired at the conference is a revisit of Project Orion – an idea that received a NASA technical look in the 1990s.

The scheme uses rapid-fire laser pulses to blow off a micro-thin surface layer of targeted debris. That tiny bit of blow-off acts as a miniature rocket motor. It's enough oomph to tease the object's perigee – low point of its orbit – to where the Earth's atmospheric drag takes hold of the object, reentering the refuse to a fiery finale.

The concept of orbital debris removal via laser – whether by ground-based equipment, an airborne facility, or a space-based system – has greatly advanced over the years, said Jonathan Campbell, a physicist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Campbell said that one of the principle findings from the earlier Project Orion appraisal that he managed was that ground-based laser removal was feasible and affordable in the context of spaceflight budgets. At a cost of only a couple of thousand dollars per object removed, this remains true, he added.

Thanks to the continued progress in laser and associated sensor technologies, Campbell's view is that the ground-based laser approach should be even more effective and affordable than in the 1990's.

Campbell said that, while all technologies have their niche as partial solutions to the orbital debris problem, there's a sizeable load of lethal objects in low Earth orbit. That being the case, he said, only laser technologies offer any hope of removing hundreds of thousands of objects economically in a reasonable timeframe.

"There are some 300,000 objects larger than one centimeter...and they are all moving at hyper-velocity. The only way to address this huge population is with laser technology," Campbell noted. "Orbital debris removal is a complex problem, one that will require an umbrella of technologies to do a complete solution," he stated.

Tough conundrum
At this week's meeting, space law specialist, James Dunstan, along with Bob Werb of the Space Frontier Foundation are set to call for an Orbital Debris Removal and Recycling Fund.

It's the belief of Werb and Dunstan that the current legal regime creates perverse economic incentives that are greatly aggravating the problem of orbital debris. The quickest and surest path to resolving the problem, they contend, is to establish a legal and economic environment that places a high price on anyone generating new debris while simultaneously creating adequate rewards for anyone who mitigates debris.

"From the predictions I've seen of how the space debris population will grow in the coming years, it looks like the space community will need to take active measures soon to clean up at least some of the existing debris, or the problem could get away from us," said Robert Hoyt, leader of Tethers Unlimited, Inc. of Bothell, Wash.

Hoyt is bringing to the DARPA/NASA event his notion tagged "RUSTLER", short for Round Up Space Trash Low Earth orbit Remediation. It too makes use of a propellant-less electrodynamic tether, he said, along with two other unconventional technologies to enable safe and cost-effective removal of defunct satellites, spent upper stages, and other debris from orbit.

"The question has always been who is going to pay to clean up the mess? Nobody really wants to get stuck with that bill," Hoyt said. How you distribute the cost fairly among the many nations and commercial entities that utilize space is a tough conundrum to address, he admitted.

"It's the communities that agree to share the cost of keeping their cities and environment clean that are able to prosper," Hoyt suggested. "The international space community is going to have to come to that same sort of agreement if it is going to prosper in the long term."

Paradigm shift
An upshot of this week's confab of gab by experts is bound to be what next?

For one, there's likely to be a multiple-choice of technologies that appear worth further study. Actual in-space testing of debris removal ideas also seems to be in the cards. Also, what space debris targets are good candidates?

All this means money.

"The conference is what I consider a paradigm shift. We're moving from defining the problem to looking for real solutions," said Campbell.

Given this paradigm shift, Campbell said he was hopeful of seeing increased funding in this area as time goes along. "There's a need to turn this trend around in the growth of space debris. It's going to take some time to do it. But we seem to be heading in the right direction now," he concluded.

SWF's Brian Weeden presents at DARPA orbital debris removal conference

Brian Weeden, Technical Advisor for Secure World Foundation, is presenting this week at the International Conference on Orbital Debris Removal, sponsored by NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The conference, being held in Chantilly, Virginia, features panel discussions on both policy and technical challenges and opportunities.

Weeden's presentation, entitled "An Opportunity for Leadership and Cooperation", focuses on the policy angle.

Agenda

Flyer

A press release containing details will be posted here within days.

Space Policy in Latin America and the Caribbean: Looking to the Future

New space institutions in Latin American and Caribbean countries have agreed to identify common elements in their space policies to facilitate international cooperation. In recognizing mutually beneficial aspects of using space, the collaboration would serve as the foundation for a future regional space policy.

This was the main outcome of a space policy workshop held in Mexico City last month, organized by the Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (CRECTEALC) and Secure World Foundation.

The workshop - Space Policy in Latin America and the Caribbean: Looking to the Future – brought together high-level space policy-makers from Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Germany, Japan, South Africa, Mexico, The Netherlands, United States of America, and Venezuela.

Taking place November 3-5 in Mexico City, the workshop was held in cooperation with the National Institute for Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics (INAOE) and the General Directorate for the United Nations System of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico.

Space system benefits
“This workshop was an eye opener for me,” said Dr. Ray Williamson, Executive Director of Secure World Foundation.

Williamson said that the smaller Latin American countries are very interested in getting into space for the benefits that space systems can provide, “both in development of high technology industry and in the use of space applications to improve people’s health, resource management, and education. The United States should support these interests.”

The workshop was organized at a unique point in time when there are several countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean region with recently established national space agencies or commissions, or that are in the process of establishing one, said Dr. Sergio Camacho, Secretary General of CRECTEALC. The Centre is affiliated with the United Nations and has a Campus in Brazil and one in Mexico.

Camacho is the former Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, a post that he held from 2002 to 2007.

“For any country, particularly for one with an incipient space program, participating in international cooperation activities is a way of developing space capability at a faster pace than by acting alone. Such participation is facilitated when its national space legislation is aligned with the international outer space treaties. Furthermore, cooperation is facilitated when countries have compatible space policies and goals,” Camacho said.

Action items
Among proposals detailed at the workshop, a central proposition is to develop capability in space policy and space law in the region, building on the initiatives of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and CRECTEALC. To the extent feasible, these capabilities would be developed in cooperation with national and international institutions, including non-governmental institutions, with expertise in the subject area.

“The three-day workshop was very successful, yielding a number of action items in order not to lose the momentum,” said Agnieszka Lukaszczyk, Space Policy Consultant for Secure World Foundation (SWF) based at the Foundation’s office in Vienna, Austria.

Lukaszczyk said that the gathering of policy leaders had a positive impact on developments in the Latin American regional space arena.

“One project that emerged from the workshop is creation of a database/map of Latin America space capabilities, to identify those involved, where and how these abilities can be used,” Lukaszczyk said. “This will help to avoid duplication and unnecessary spending on data already available and will foster regional cooperation in knowledge and resource sharing,” she said.

A draft report on the proceedings of the workshop, as well as recommended next steps, is being prepared by CRECTEALC. That draft report will seek comments by the co-sponsors of the activity and by the workshop participants. A final report will be further distributed to other countries in the region who will be invited to take part in areas of their specific interest.