NASA needs to do more to understand the risks posed to spacecraft by space debris and find new ways to mitigate the threat, according to a report by the Office of the Inspector General last week.
Why it matters: Some see space debris as an orbiting environmental crisis. Millions of pieces of space debris revolve around the Earth at more than 17,000 mph, placing spaceships and sometimes people in danger.
Driving the news: The new OIG report suggests that while NASA has done a good job of desorbing its own spacecraft and rockets, many other nations have not been as proactive, launching spacecraft and rockets that remain in orbit longer than the recommended 25 years .
- Now, experts warn that the space agency will need to mitigate the waste that is already in space and prevent future waste from being created to keep spacecraft safe in the future.
- “Despite presidential and congressional guidelines for NASA over the past decade to develop active debris removal technologies, the Agency has made little or no progress in such efforts,” wrote the OIG.
- The OIG also recommended that NASA develop a better way to track and understand the nature of space junk in orbit to more effectively protect its spacecraft.
The footprint: Nations and private companies are working to find ways to clean space effectively, but these technologies are still in development.