NASA must do more to understand the risks of space junk to spacecraft and find new ways to mitigate the threat, according to a report from the Office of Inspector General last week.
Why it matters: Some see space junk as an environmental crisis in orbit. Millions of pieces of space debris fly around the Earth at over 17,000 mph, putting spacecraft and sometimes humans at risk.
Driving the news: The new OIG report suggests that while NASA has properly disbanded its own spacecraft and rocket bodies, many other countries have not been as proactive and launched spacecraft and rockets that remain in orbit longer than the recommended 25 years.
- Now, experts are warning that the space agency must both reduce clutter already in space and prevent future clutter from being created to keep spacecraft safe in the future.
- “Despite presidential and congressional directives given to NASA over the past decade to develop technologies for active waste disposal, the Agency has made little to no progress in such efforts,” the OIG wrote.
- The OIG also recommended that NASA should develop a better means of tracking and understanding the nature of space debris in orbit to more effectively protect its spacecraft.
The catch: Nations and private companies are working on ways to effectively clean up space, but those technologies are still developing.