US President Donald Trump has signed a space policy directive to manage space traffic and debris orbiting around the Earth.
The third space directive of the Trump administration, the newly signed policy aims to facilitate coordination between the US Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Commerce to protect the country from the growing threat of space junk.
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The DoD has so far tracked more than 20,000 objects in space, and this number is estimated to increase over the time.
According to Trump, the existing traffic management activity will not be enough to efficiently manage the increasing number of objects in space.
He said in a statement: “To maintain US leadership in space, we must develop a new approach to space traffic management (STM) that addresses current and future operational risks.
“This new approach must set priorities for space situational awareness (SSA) and STM innovation in science and technology (S&T), incorporate national security considerations, encourage growth of the US commercial space sector, establish an updated STM architecture, and promote space safety standards and best practices across the international community.”
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By GlobalDataThe policy directive intends to streamline federal space regulations and improve the safety, stability, and sustainability of space operations.
Among other features, the directive includes guidelines to be followed by the federal agencies while developing advanced SSA and STM science and technology, alleviating the effect of orbital debris on space activities, and promoting the US commercial leadership in SSA, and STM.
