SpaceNews.com
• Audrey Schaffer
Paying for Space Safety: Why Satellite Operators Must Fund Debris Mitigation and Space Traffic Management
SpaceNews.com reports: No more free rides: it’s time to pay for space safety.
Space Debris & Traffic Management News
SpaceNews.com
• Audrey Schaffer
News Timeline
Experts warn the risk of falling space debris striking aircraft is rising, urging regulators and operators to reassess current response thresholds. Debate centres on whether authorities should respond to every object with ground‑impact potential or limit action to only very large pieces, as after the Long March event.
At 1:48 a.m. EST on Jan. 4, SpaceX launched Starlink 6-88 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, deploying 29 satellites into orbit. The flight was the first Starlink deployment since a Dec. 17 satellite anomaly and SpaceX's first Starlink launch of 2026.
SpaceX’s Starlink will lower about 4,400 satellites from ~550 km to 480 km over 2026, VP Michael Nicolls said, reconfiguring nearly half the constellation to reduce collision risk and orbital congestion. The lower altitude increases atmospheric drag for faster deorbiting and promises modest latency gains for users.
Cosmoserve Space proposes the 'Venus Flytrap' concept to tackle orbital debris as rising congestion in low Earth orbit turns small objects into a systemic risk. The design joins a growing set of technical responses aimed at reducing collision hazards and sustaining on‑orbit operations.
A 2025 orbital emergency caused by space debris has prompted industry and regulators to demand rapid improvements in debris mitigation, tracking and traffic management. The incident — and the warning that "some will not change behavior until something bad happens" — intensifies calls for coordinated policy and technical fixes.
Engineers report a satellite proximity‑operations test successfully validated multilayer golden insulation while preparing spacecraft for the complex task of safely approaching another object in orbit. The demonstration aimed to exercise thermal, structural and operational margins needed for rendezvous, inspection and potential on‑orbit servicing missions.
Astroscale released a video demonstrating how its End of Life Services by Astroscale‑Multiple (ELSA‑M) mission will rendezvous, capture and deorbit a OneWeb communications satellite. The footage highlights the servicer's capture mechanism and the planned disposal sequence, a step toward commercial orbital debris removal.
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