Draw from Kyoto Protocol to clean up outer space: India

With the number of man-made objects increasing in outer space and posing major safety and environmental concerns, India has proposed an international arrangement on the lines of the Kyoto Protocol...

With the number of man-made objects increasing in outer space and posing major safety and environmental concerns, India has proposed an international arrangement on the lines of the Kyoto Protocol to limit damage to the outer space and protect satellites orbiting the earth.

At present, there are more than 9,000 man-made objects of significant size in outer space of which only six per cent are operational satellites. The rest of them, either fragments of broken satellites or non-operational space objects, not only pose the risk of a possible collision but are also an environmental threat.

A few incidents of collision of operational satellites with debris have already occurred, the latest being one involving a Russian communication satellite last year, which rendered the satellite unusable.

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Although international conventions exist on debris mitigation in space, the guidelines have proved to be inefficient in ensuring that countries that are responsible for creating the debris also make efforts to clear them.

India has now proposed to the United Nations a framework that seeks not just to force countries to clear their mess in space, but also to put a cap on the number of launches a country can make in a year based on their contribution to space debris in the past.

“It is a common responsibility of all nations to clean the outer space. But not equal responsibility. Countries which have created the debris must take greater responsibility in clearing it,” said Deputy Director at the Space Application Centre in Ahmedabad, M Y S Prasad.

Prasad and his ISRO colleague Rajiv Lochan, who died in a road accident last month, are the authors of this proposal, which India has put forward for discussion with the United Nations. The proposal derives its principle from the Kyoto Protocol, which seeks to cap and reduce emission of greenhouse gases in the environment.

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On the lines of carbon credits, Prasad has proposed “debris credits” for countries that implement debris mitigation schemes. Space-faring countries that need to carry out more launches than their quota can buy these “debris credits”.

And just like the Kyoto Protocol, it proposes to create Annex 1 and non-Annex 1 countries — comprising states that have a space programme and those that do not. Annex 1 countries will be assigned greater responsibility in clearing the debris apart from putting a cap on the number of launches.

“The Kyoto Protocol introduced certain innovative mechanisms to limit damage to environment and they have proved to be quite useful. These mechanisms can be easily adopted in the realm of outer space as well,” Prasad said.