Once humans reach the Moon in 1969, Mars did not seem so far away. Recent technological advancements have brought Mars even closer with a crewed mission planned for the 2030s.[1] We are on the cusp of achieving another “giant leap for mankind.”
However, current activities around Mars are harming future exploration because they are poorly regulated. Under our current debris policies, Martian missions can create space trash that increases the risk of collisions and complicates satellite navigation. As a result, space debris endangers satellite survival, threatening our ability to explore Mars.
We are already experiencing this danger around Earth. Orbits filled with trash when we lacked proper debris regulation. Today, 14,000 trackable and 128 million undetectable objects threaten to collide every 2 minutes with multimillion-dollar spacecraft which provide critical services like internet, GPS, and weather updates.[2] Our efforts to mitigate debris formation on Earth came too late, but for Mars, we have an opportunity to steward our activities before space debris crowds Martian orbits.
The Inter-Agency Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) must extend the scope of current debris mitigation policies to include Mars. Yes, just add one word, Mars, to existing policies, and this problem will largely resolve.
Current guidelines already require Earth-based missions to deplete any stored energy and justify all in-orbit part releases.[3] The first measure reduces the potential for in-orbit explosions, a major source of space debris.[4] The latter mitigates willfully-created debris. IADC must extend these guidelines to Mars to offer basic protection against debris formation.
In addition, current policies require Earth-based spacecraft operators to decommission their satellites. This requirement ensures that defunct spacecraft are removed from useful orbits, making room for future satellites. We need similar decommissioning requirements for Mars, given that majority of the 14 Martian satellites lack the ability or intent to deorbit.[5] These spacecraft will occupy orbits for an uncertain number of years to come, increasing the risk of collisions with functional satellites. IADC must establish decommissioning requirements to mitigate this risk and free space for new spacecraft.
A one-word policy change will set up our defense against Martian debris formation. We failed to protect Earth’s orbits from space trash when we had the chance. Now, we must act to keep Martian orbits clean and guarantee our long-term exploration. Adopting more protective guidelines may be of little importance to Earth-based activities, but for future Martian missions, it will make all the difference.
[1] Brian Dunbar, When Are We Going?, NASA Moon to Mars (last visited May 31, 2019), https://www.nasa.gov/specials/moon2mars/index.html
[2] Space Debris by the Numbers, European Space Agency, https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Safety/Space_Debris/Space_debris_by_the_numbers (last updated Jan. 2019)
[3] V. Lukjashchenko et al., Proceedings of the Third European Conference on Space Debris Darmstadt, Germany (Mar. 19-21, 2001), 827-833 (Huguette Sawaya-Lacoste ed., ESA Publications Division) (2001)
[4] Bonnal, C. (2007). Design and operational practices for the passivation of spacecraft and launchers at the end of life. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 221(6), 925–931. https://doi.org/10.1243/09544100JAERO231
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