Preservation of Near-Earth Space for Future Generations

This symposium brought together physical scientists, legal experts, space program directors, economists, political scientists, and policy-makers from all space-faring nations to discuss how to mitigate the problem of ever-increasing quantities of man-made orbital debris in space. This debris produces serious hazards to spacecraft, space stations and astronauts. The symposium explored the economic, legal, and political issues that must be faced in designing an international agreement to control orbital debris. Participants agreed that developing a treaty that ensured international cooperation among the space-faring nations would be an important step forward, and would require both civil and military preparation, as well as interdisciplinary involvement in design and implementation. The resulting book includes versions of the papers prepared by participants in advance of the symposium, as well as excerpts from the discussion sessions.