Research Agency Developing A "Catchers Mitt" Solution For Debris Removal

NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) organized the first ever international conference devoted solely to the subject of orbital debris removal. The NASA/DARPA meeting was held December 8-10 in Chantilly, Virginia.

DARPA says space-faring nations have recognized the mounting risk posed by orbital debris for several years. The U.S. Space Surveillance Network maintains a catalog of nearly fifteen thousand objects in orbit. This figure does not include hundreds of thousands of objects too small to be cataloged, but still large enough to pose a threat to operational satellites in orbit around the Earth.

Mitigation measures to minimize the generation of debris have been adopted by many countries in an attempt to slow the growth of the orbital debris population, with some success. However, two significant debris generating events during the past two years have resulted in a significant increase in the number of debris objects.

Current analysis indicates collisions between orbital objects could potentially lead to a sustained growth in the debris population. Debris mitigation alone will not be sufficient to prevent a continual increase in the number of debris objects.

“Orbital debris is a global problem that poses a threat to the use of space by all States. Actively removing orbital debris is part of solving this problem, but it is by its nature a global solution that requires international cooperation and transparency," said Brian Weeden, Technical Advisor fir Secure World Foundation, a private operating foundation dedicated to maintaining the secure and sustainable use of space.  Weeden was one of 60 invited speakers at the conference.

Weeden noted that orbital debris removal is not just a technical problem. “The economic costs of removing objects need to be compared to the risk they pose to active spacecraft, and there are large legal and political issues to tackle as well,” he said.

The conference is part of DARPA's "Catchers Mitt" study, which is designed to model the debris problem and its future growth, determine where the greatest problem will be for assets and then, if appropriate, explore technically and economically feasible solutions for debris removal. DARPA has also issues A Request for Information (RFI) where industry can submit concepts to solve subsets of the debris problem, and will include utility studies conducted by NASA, Air Force, and DARPA to model the growth of the risk to space operations.

“DARPA intends to use the results of these three approaches to determine whether DARPA investment in a new program is warranted and where and how to be most effective. If justified, potential follow-on efforts might include a new DARPA led program, or DARPA support for an effort led by another U.S. government organization,” said Wade Pulliam, a Program Manager with the Tactical Technology Office.

FMI: www.darpa.mil