Payton Warns Of Small Satellite Danger
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Jefferson Morris/New York
Defunct microsatellites pose a growing space debris risk and must be better tracked in orbit, according to Gary Payton, deputy undersecretary of the U.S. Air Force for space.
"Some people call these microsats," Payton said during the Space Foundation's Space Business Forum here June 4. "Ten years after their launch, they become space debris. They become potential ASATs. We need to keep track of these smaller and smaller spacecraft."
The Air Force tracks 18,000 objects in orbit and is expanding that number. The service places highest priority on making sure manned spacecraft are clear of debris, followed by military satellites. Information on potential collisions, known as conjunctions, is available to commercial satellite operators by request, although the burden is primarily on industry to ensure the safety of its spacecraft.
But in future, Payton wants to set up a more routine relationship with commercial satellite operators, similar to the Air Forces's relationship with NASA. "Our increased emphasis on space situational awareness is so important, so we can do a better job of conjunction analysis, we can do a better job of notifying folks," he said.
The Air Force has no initiatives for removing orbital debris underway, but "that might be a place for an entrepreneur to jump into," Payton said, particularly for large objects such as spent rocket stages or derelict spacecraft.
The Air Force's fiscal 2010 budget places more focus on space situational awareness, following high-profile debris-generating events such as China's 2007 ASAT (anti-satellite) weapon test and this year's collision of an Iridium spacecraft with a defunct Russian satellite (Aerospace DAILY, May 12).
Payton characterized the $9 billion unclassified FY '10 Air Force space budget as very healthy -- 3 percent higher than the appropriated FY '09 level -- even after the cancellation of the Transformational Satellite program.
Photo credit: ESA
