Add “Kessler Syndrome” to your vocabulary. The idea is that colliding satellites or spent-up rocket stages could cause a cascade of havoc, undermining billions in public- and private-sector investment. That scenario, first proposed in 1978, is no longer dubious. NASA currently tracks some 23,000 items in hypervelocity orbit that are larger than 10 centimeters, but there are millions of smaller pieces. It will get even worse now that technology has reduced the size of a functional satellite from a school bus to a countertop microwave oven. One Japan-based company raised $38 million in private-sector funding to address the issue; there are other firms in the mix. Seizing debris raises legal concerns because convention has yet to succinctly define abandoned space property. But paying to shield a pricey satellite, among other tactics, is a different matter. A benefit of commercialized space-junk technology is that satellite-insurance premiums will decline markedly. ■
Our Vantage Point: With a growing volume of debris in orbit, telecom companies, among others, have new-found commercial risk. There is captive demand for those startups which can resolve the problem.
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Image: NASA runs an orbital debris unit. Credit: JohanSwanepoel at Can Stock Photo.
