Keeping Space Safe and Usable | Peter Martinez on Space Sustainability

Duration: 6:26 994 transcript words EN summary

Video summary

Space has become an essential component of daily life, yet its current usage poses significant threats to this shared resource through crowded orbits, increasing orbital debris, and rising geopolitical tensions. To mitigate these dangers, experts rely on a comprehensive network of sensors to track objects in space, fusing data from various sources to create accurate and timely catalogs. These precise records are critical for financial stability, scientific advancement, and technological operations, enabling satellites to maneuver quickly when potential collision risks are identified through conjunction assessments and flight safety analyses. Without such protective measures, the disruption to these systems would be catastrophic, underscoring the urgent need to safeguard the space environment for continued human benefit. The landscape of space activities has evolved dramatically over the last few decades, shifting from a domain dominated by a few actors to one involving numerous countries and commercial entities. This expansion has highlighted the necessity for effective coordination among diverse stakeholders, requiring clearer regulations, standardized practices, and robust methods for data exchange. A growing concern is the proliferation of counter-space capabilities, which, even when not explicitly prohibited, create massive amounts of debris that threaten active satellites and human spaceflight. In response to these challenges, international bodies like the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs work to ensure space remains a peaceful province for all humankind, upholding fundamental principles such as freedom of exploration and the prohibition of national appropriation established by treaties like the Outer Space Treaty. To address the complex dimensions of space sustainability, organizations like the Secure World Foundation convene multistakeholder dialogues that bring together scientists, policymakers, industry leaders, and philanthropists to shape global norms and responsible behaviors. The commercial sector has played a pivotal role in this evolution, transitioning from a purely government-led function to a dynamic industry that thrived under early regulatory frameworks designed to stabilize the market. Guiding principles derived from thinkers like Buckminster Fuller suggest that it is easier to create positive outcomes than to undo negative ones, emphasizing that progress occurs when better ideas emerge. This collaborative approach recognizes that space is an interconnected global infrastructure where no single nation can claim ownership, necessitating a unified effort to build the governance and policies required for its long-term security. Ultimately, the future of space depends on a collective commitment to preserving its safety, stability, and security for present and future generations. By learning from lessons on Earth and fostering international partnerships, the global community can develop the new infrastructure and policies needed to keep space secure amidst increasing congestion and competition. The mission is clear: through continued cooperation and adherence to established legal frameworks, all nations must ensure that the benefits of space technology and data remain accessible to everyone. As the arena becomes more contested, new efforts are emerging to promote sustainability, proving that with shared responsibility and proactive dialogue, we can maintain a viable and peaceful environment beyond our atmosphere for years to come.

Read the full video transcript

Space is essential to daily life. Yet, the way we're using it threatens that benefit. Crowded orbits, orbital debris, and geopolitical tension put this shared resource, and everything we depend on it for in jeopardy. >> We track objects in space using a variety of sensors. The sensors we end up using depends on their activity status, their size, and their observability characteristics. We found that when you fuse observations together from a variety of these sensors that we use for tracking, that's when you get the most comprehensive, accurate, and timely space cataloges. If we don't have space for a day, this will be a disaster in financial markets, in our science and technology. So, we use this resource heavily. We need to protect it. The way we protect them is by trying to have a very accurate catalog, have it be timely so that when satellites maneuver, we can quickly get on to where they are today. We collaborate and then we use conjunction assessment and flight safety analyses to say, "Hey, these two objects are coming close. We need to maneuver and mitigate the collision risk." The space arena has grown tremendously in the last couple of decades and the existing international governance system was developed in the early days of the space age when there were very few space actors. Today we have a very different situation in space where there are many many more countries active in space and there are also many more commercial actors. With space becoming more congested, it's becoming more important that the different actors coordinate effectively with each other. And this requires more standards, clearer regulations, and methods of exchanging data. A growing number of countries are developing so-called counterpace capabilities. While weapons are not prohibited in space, we are seeing a worrying proliferation of these kinds of counterpace capabilities. Even the testing of these capabilities poses great challenges for space sustainability because of the huge amounts of debris that they create. This debris poses a threat to all active satellites and to human space flight and therefore to the sustainability of space activities. The United Nations in particular through its Office of Outer Space Affairs, UNUSA, has a core mandate to really work to ensure that space remains used peacefully. And we do that because we want to make sure that all member states can continue to participate actively in space activities, but even more importantly benefit from space technology, data, and services. The fundamental cornerstone of space law is the outer space treaty. And this sets out a couple of really basic but very important principles. First of all, that space is the province of all humankind, that all states are free to explore it as they wish. And thirdly, that nobody can appropriate it nationally. We have the agreement on the rescue and return of astronauts. We have the liability convention. We have finally the moon treaty. But we also have the registration convention which ensures that everything which is launched into outer space should be registered with the United Nations. Secure World Foundation is helping to shape the global conversation on space safety, security and sustainability by convening multistakeholder dialogues to address the multiple dimensions of space sustainability that may be addressed in various fora in isolation. But what we do is we bring together the different actors to have a more holistic view of space sustainability challenges. Secure World Foundation is active in all corners of the globe and we do most of our work with international partners. >> As space becomes increasingly crowded and contested, new efforts are emerging to promote long-term sustainability. Organizations like the Secure World Foundation are working with scientists, policy makers, industry, and philanthropists to help shape the norms and practices that will guide safe and responsible behavior in orbit. >> I've seen a dramatic change in the role that the commercial sector has played. Initially, of course, governments thought that space would be a government function. But really, pretty early in the development of the space age, you started to see new ideas about commercial taking over parts of the space enterprise. One of the important pieces of this history is the role that regulation played in stabilizing and focusing these endeavors. Early on, the commercial actors themselves really wanted a rule set to be put in place. And that government action actually helped to stabilize the industry and to make the United States an attractive place for entrepreneurs to start space companies. >> I was doing a lot of research trying to figure out what to do. And in doing so, I came across several kind of guiding principles that I think have served me well. A couple of them came from Buckminister Fuller who said it is easier to create the positive than to undo the negative. And also change happens when a better idea comes along. Here on Earth, we have the nation state as our form of governance. And yet in space you can't draw a line and say, "Okay, this is mine. This is yours." It's all very connected. And so we need that new idea. How can we learn from what we've done here on Earth as we begin to as a global community put together the new infrastructure, the governance, the policies that we need in order to keep space secure, sustainable, and peaceful so that we can have the benefits there. Our mission at Secure World Foundation is to ensure that we can continue to enjoy the benefits of space activities for all nations and for present and future generations. But it's not something that we can do alone. We need to work in partnership with others to ensure that we preserve the safety, stability, and security of space for the benefit of all nations. >> The future of space is in our hands. Learn how you can support a sustainable space environment at swfound.org.