Space is becoming a crowded place. Satellite operators, space agencies and prospective space tourism companies are all vying for elbow room in the great black yonder. It means the risk of collisions between different spacecraft and between satellites and space junk is increasing all the time.
Despite the dangers, a senior American space expert fears it will take a major collision to push space-faring nations into creating a near-Earth equivalent of air traffic control. In a paper to be published in the space-flight journal Acta Astronautica next month, Bill Ailor, director of the US air force-funded Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies in California, calls on countries to begin planning how to manage space traffic.
At the moment, he says, the chief focus of government regulation in space is on the radio frequencies used by satellites, managed by the International Telecommunication Union. There are no regulations to prevent satellites occupying essentially the same physical space.
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What鈥檚 more, the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC), which represents the world鈥檚 space agencies, is focused on tracking debris, such as discarded rocket stages, rather than preventing collisions. 鈥淭he IADC calls for the avoidance of collisions, but does not provide recommendations for how this should be implemented,鈥� Ailor told New 杏吧原创.
While the US air force has begun a pilot programme to research space traffic management, Ailor says it needs an effort by all space-faring nations.
鈥淎 Space Traffic Control System makes sense and I would encourage development of such a system,鈥� says Rick Homans, secretary of the state of New Mexico鈥檚 economic development department in Santa Fe. He is interested because New Mexico wants to build a spaceport for suborbital and orbital space tourist flights operated by companies such as Virgin Galactic. 鈥淚f correctly designed, such a system could not only protect spacecraft but also help reduce costs associated with guidance and navigation,鈥� he says.
Alex Tai, operations director at Virgin Galactic, who hopes to pilot the firm鈥檚 first commercial tourist flight in late 2008, agrees that there is a need for more 鈥渃ooperation and coordination鈥� of space traffic issues. 鈥淏ut as a company, we would very much like congestion to be our happy problem,鈥� he says.
