When Space Junk Comes Home

Artist impression of an Apollo module re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. These descents were under control but the same event when uncontrolled can pose very serious threat to people and property on the surface (Credit : North American Rockwell)

When a chunk of SpaceX rocket debris crashed into a Polish warehouse this year, it exposed a troubling reality, that the international laws governing space accidents were written for a world where only governments launched rockets. Now, as private companies deploy thousands of satellites and debris rains down with increasing frequency, victims have no direct legal recourse and must rely on their governments to pursue claims on their behalf, that’s if those governments choose to act at all. A new analysis reveals how a Cold War era treaty struggles to protect ordinary people in the age of commercial spaceflight, and why some nations are now taking matters into their own hands.

Universe Today
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