To address a rapidly changing space operating environment and ensure its preservation for generations to come, NASA launched the first part of its integrated study Spatial sustainability strategy, Tuesday advancing the agency's role as a global leader on this crucial issue.
"The release of this strategy marks real progress for NASA on space sustainability," said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy. โThe space is busy, and it's getting busier. If we want to ensure that critical parts of space are preserved so that our children and grandchildren can continue to use them for the benefit of humanity, now is the time to act. โNASA is making sure we are aligning our resources to support sustainable activity for us and everyone.โ
For decades, NASA has been a proactive leader for responsible and sustainable space operations. Entities across the agency develop best practices, analytical tools and technologies widely adopted by operators around the world. The new strategy seeks to integrate those efforts through an agency-wide approach, allowing NASA to focus its resources on the most pressing problems. To facilitate that integration, NASA will appoint a new director of space sustainability to coordinate activities across the agency.
Key aspects of our approach include providing global leadership on space sustainability, supporting equitable access to space, and ensuring that NASA missions and operations improve space sustainability.
Today, space environments are seeing the rapid emergence of commercial capabilities, many of them driven by NASA. These capabilities include increased low-Earth orbit satellite activity and plans for the use of satellite constellations, autonomous spacecraft, and commercial space destinations. However, this increase in activity has also created challenges, such as a more crowded operating environment with spacecraft and increased debris. Understanding the risks and benefits associated with this growth is crucial for spatial sustainability.
Developed under the leadership of an interagency advisory board, the space sustainability strategy focuses on the advances NASA can make to measure and evaluate space sustainability in Earth orbit, identifying cost-effective ways to meet sustainability goals and incentivizing the adoption of sustainable practices through technology and policies. development and greater efforts to share and receive information with the rest of the global space community.
NASA's approach to space sustainability recognizes four operational domains: Earth, Earth orbit, the orbital area near and around the Moon known as cislunar space, and deep space, including other celestial bodies. The first volume of the strategy focuses on sustainability in Earth orbit. NASA plans to produce additional volumes focusing on other domains.
Learn more about the Space Sustainability Strategy at:
https://www.nasa.gov/spacesustainability
-end-
Amber Jacobson / Rob Margetta
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
amber.c.jacobson@nasa.gov / robert.j.margetta@nasa.gov
