(Space) Safety First: Simone D’Amico on Safeguarding Earth’s Lower Orbit

To the notion of a vast and empty outer space, imagine instead the lower orbit of planet Earth cluttered by thousands of aging tracked objects losing their functionality and far too much debris – some of it moving at speeds of kilometers per second, posing a threat to satellites and mankind’s ability to communicate and make scientific, economic and climate forecasts, not to mention great powers’ national security. Simone D’Amico, a Hoover Institution science fellow and founder of Stanford’s Space Rendezvous Laboratory, discusses his recent report on space safety and offers ways to make the heavenly objects safer, securer, and more sustainable. Among his suggestions for easing a stressed space domain: harnessing emerging technologies, improving communications between satellite operators, and seeking greater consensus among the world’s space powers in terms of traffic coordination.