20 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2019 www.vanguardcanada.com
sPAce
the Space
DebriS
problem,
Canada,
and the Future Debris Mission
O
n July 12, 2019, the De-
partment of National De-
fence (DND) presented a
call to help develop a viable
and cost-effective way to
track and de-orbit space debris. With the
rapid growth in the space industry pro-
jected over the next decade, the call comes
at a critical point where accumulated space
debris has raised the risk of collision for
existing and planned satellites. This is be-
coming especially important given the rise
of so-called mega-constellations, where
the number of operational satellites is pre-
dicted to rise from less than 2,000 to more
than 20,000 in the next decade.
The question that normally accompanies
these discussions is this: why, in the context
of competing government priorities and
resources, would Canada allocate valuable
resources to removing space debris?
the Space Debris Problem
Orbital debris represents a growing threat
to the operation of satellites. According to
ESA's Space Debris Office, there are cur-
rently hundreds of thousands of debris
objects greater than one centimeter in di-
ameter in Earth's orbit, and approximately
128 million objects between one centime-
tre and one millimeter. The U.S. Space
Surveillance Network (SSN) operates a
catalogue that routinely tracks more than
21,000 orbiting items larger than 10 cen-
BY KIERNAN McCLELLAND
