Orbital debris: A technical assessment

Abstract

To acquire an unbiased technical assessment of (1) the research needed to better understand the debris environment, (2) the necessity and means of protecting spacecraft against the debris environment, and (3) potential methods of reducing the future debris hazard, NASA asked the National Research Council to form an international committee to examine the orbital debris issue. The committee was asked to draw upon available data and analyses to: characterize the current debris environment, project how this environment might change in the absence of new measures to alleviate debris proliferation, examine ongoing alleviation activities, explore measures to address the problem, and develop recommendations on technical methods to address the problems of debris proliferation.