The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has handed out its first-ever space debris enforcement fine to a commercial company after television provider DISH Network failed to deorbit an ageing satellite safely.
“As satellite operations become more prevalent and the space economy accelerates, we must be certain that operators comply with their commitments,” said Loyaan A. Egal, chief of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau. “This is a breakthrough settlement, making very clear the FCC has strong enforcement authority and capability to enforce its vitally important space debris rules.”
An FCC investigation into DISH found that the company had failed to follow its orbital debris mitigation plan, and safely deorbit its EchoStar-7 satellite. Launched in 2002, EchoStar-7 was placed into a geostationary orbit high above Earth’s surface, where it joined a constellation of satellites beaming television coverage down to DISH Network customers.
The company had previously agreed to boost EchoStar-7 to an altitude of 300 km when it reached the end of its operational life. However, a lack of fuel aboard the spacecraft rendered DISH unable to place the satellite in the graveyard orbit as planned.
As noted by the BBC, the FCC’s $150,000 fine pales in comparison to Dish’s overall earning capacity, with the company taking a staggering $16.8 billion in revenue for 2022 alone. However, the fine is still significant, in that it indicates a significant step up in the FCC’s willingness to enforce its regulatory powers.
Since the launch of Sputnik in October 1957, humanity has hefted well over 6,000 rockets and 9,300 tonnes of material into space, including thousands of satellites, several space stations, and a Tesla, which is probably looking a little worse for wear right about now.
Predictably, our efforts to tame this final frontier has rendered near-Earth space more hazardous than ever, by filling it with fast-moving debris that poses a potentially catastrophic hazard to operational satellites, and future spacecraft.
Numbered amongst the space trash are derelict satellites, discarded rocket fairings, and myriad other smaller objects and particles numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Orbital debris is known to travel at speeds of around 7-8 kilometers per second, which means that impacts between pieces of space debris, and whatever is in their path, take place at ten times the velocity of a bullet.
A worst case scenario would see two large pieces of debris collide - an event that actually occurred in 2009, when the decommissioned Iridium-33 satellite smashed into the Russian made Cosmos-2251 spacecraft, which shattered into a cloud of debris over 1,800 pieces strong.
In 1978, NASA Scientist Donald J. Kessler theorised that the proliferation of space debris could lead to a cascade of collisions that would essentially render spacetravel and satellite technology unusable. To minimise the risk of this scenario occurring, companies are now required to either de-orbit their satellites at the end of their operational lives, or boost them into a high "graveyard" orbit, where they won’t pose a significant threat to other operational assets.
The advent of satellite megaconstellations such as SpaceX’s Starlink program, paired with the democratisation of spaceflight, is likely to trigger a dramatic increase in the number of orbital human-made objects in the coming decades. Hopefully, the prospect of further fines from the FCC and other punishments will keep the proliferation of space debris in check, and render space safe for exploration, and exploitation for centuries to come.
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
Image Credit: NASA, ODPO
