Calls for information sharing

Editor: With the increase of space debris, although monitoring systems of relevant countries are running on full power, debris monitoring and surveillance still require collaborative efforts from the international community. What are the reactions of the various parties involved?

Guan Kejiang: Cartwright has said that the satellite collision accident demonstrates that all countries should improve the sharing of space information. In the future, countries should better exchange satellite orbit data with each other. US State Department spokesperson Rob McInturff said that all countries with interests in outer space should mutually cooperate in order to avoid similar accidents. Relevant parties in the US and Russia have already made contact. During the investigation process, US and Russian experts may arrange further meetings.

Li Yan: On February 13, Mazlan Othman, director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, called upon member countries and international organizations to fully implement the "IADC Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines". He said the implementation of these guidelines will help protecting the environment in outer space and that the guidelines were written bearing in mind the interests of mankind. This organization will hold a seminar in Austria in the near future, inviting scientists to put forward suggestions for preventing space collisions.

Urgent need for improvements in management

Editor: Strengthening space surveillance has become a hot topic among various parties since the collision. What are experts' comments?

Pang Zhihao (researcher at the China Academy of Space Technology): In outer space, except for geostationary orbits, whose orbital slots are allocated to all countries and managed by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), spacecrafts and their space waste are barely regulated. At most, they are separately monitored by individual countries whose data are rarely shared.

Establishing a system for the promotion of space safety is an important method of space traffic management. Yet few companies or countries have invested the corresponding resources in this area. Currently, participants from scientific and research institutions, multinational companies to satellite observation stations have collected large amounts of necessary data on space safety. However, the difficulty lies in how to integrate these various types of resources and make them mutually compatible. In addition, copyrights and commercial confidentiality must be taken into consideration. The basic principle on enacting space traffic regulations is how to "avoid" space debris and spacecrafts that are under "surveillance". Detailed study of the space environment and space forecasts should have the highest priority in establishing scientific space traffic regulations. There is still a long way to go before international conventions regarding space traffic rules can be met. In general, the monitoring and prevention of space debris requires a long-term cooperation from the international community.

Du Heng (researcher at the Center for Space Science and Applied Research under the Chinese Academy of Sciences): Seeing the increase of spacecraft and space debris, people have been calling for the adoption of space traffic management since the 1990s. The latest satellite collision will definitely trigger a new round of concern and discussions. It is noteworthy that over 90 percent of space objects are debris, while operational spacecrafts account for less than 10 percent. We can only control these spacecrafts, yet their movements are not as controllable as those of a car, which responds quickly. Therefore, the concept of "traffic lights" must be abandoned. Current discussions mainly focus on the technical level of space surveillance, while "space traffic law" is still a very remote concept.

(People's Daily February 18, 2009)