Outer Space

MAUREEN WILLIAMS

YEARBOOK OF INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW (YbIEL)

Oxford University Press

Lugar: Oxford, Reino Unido; Año: 2008; p. 272 - 276

  YbIEL - Vol. 18 OUTER SPACE Abstract Since the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (Copuos) published its Technical Report on Space Debris in 1999 (UN Publication, Sales N° E.99.1.17) the general opinion is that the current space debris environment poses a serious risk and that a prompt implementation of appropriate mitigation measures is necessary to safeguard the space environment for future generations. In this quest, the Space Law Committee of the International Law Association (ILA) directed its efforts during 2007 to following the development of the topic in the framework of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). Special attention was drawn to the Guidelines on Space Debris Mitigation adopted at the end of the forty-fourth session of that Subcommittee, in  February 2007, after a number of years devoted to workplans on the matter. As stated in the Report of that UN body (Doc.A/AC.105/890, Annex IV, pp.42-6) space debris mitigation measures can be divided into two broad categories, namely those that curtail the generation of potentially harmful space debris in the near term, and those that limit their generation over the long term. The former involves the curtailment of the production of mission-related space debris and the avoidance of break-ups. The latter concerns end-of-life procedures that remove decommissioned spacecraft and launch vehicle orbital stages from regions populated by operational spacecraft.